"Whip! Whip!" Aphira yelled, reaching out to him. Whip fell after his sister, spinning faster and faster toward the stormy seas as waves thrashed, trying to escape the storm and swallow the helpless girl that was plummeting toward them.
"Whip! Whip!" Aphira's voice was changing to be more like...Whiplash's? "Whip! Whip! Whip, wake up! Whip!" Whip felt warm breath on his face and a slimy tongue swipe over his face. "Come on!" Whiplash hopped up to Whip's window. The night sky was still shining through.
"What? No, Whiplash, it's still dark out." Whip rolled over and threw his blanket over himself. "Don't you wanna see where I grew up?" Whiplash asked, nudging Whip. "No, not right now, why can't we do this in the morning?" Whip groaned. "Because we're going now. Come on, the others are waiting." Whiplash snapped. "The others?" Whip peeked at Whiplash, but the dragon's tail had already snaked around his leg.
Whiplash took off, sending Whip after him. Whip screamed in surprise before it was cut short by Zephyr. "Shush, will you?" She asked, riding upside down on Whiteout. "Yeah, you're so noisy." The dragon agreed. "Am not!" Whip whimpered as Zephyr removed her hand. "What?" She tilted her head with a confused look. "Oh - uh - n - nothing!"
"Follow me!" Torch swept ahead of the others with a roar. "Ugh, it's gonna take FOREVER to get there with YOU in the lead." Whiteout huffed. "Well, if you know the way there, please, be my guest." Torch replied, hovering there for a moment. Whiteout sighed. "No, I don't." She admitted. "Exactly." Torch flew ahead with no more comment.
The flight there was long and boring. Whiteout was the one that complained the most, although it probably wouldn't feel as long without her complaints. Finally, though, they landed at Berk, where there were burnt buildings being overgrown with plants, huge doors in the side of a spiraling piece of rock that pierced the now sunlit clouds, and ash that had bunched into small holes.
"Wow." Zephyr gasped. "The Deathgrippers really did a number on this place." Torch murmured, glancing sadly toward a burnt forest in the distance. "Woah..." Loutnut gasped. "That's amazing!"
"It's horrible." Ac gasped, her green eyes wide with shock. Whip's eyes raced across the ground. "Torch!" Whiplash roared, flicking his tail toward an open clearing. "Over here!" Torch nodded and swept toward it. The dragons landed, settling down with a grateful breath. "I'll get us some food." Torch jerked his neck back unexpectedly, throwing Loutnut off and took off.
"Hey! What was THAT for!?" Loutnut yelled. "Shush your obnoxious pie-hole." Zephyr huffed.
A few hours later we were eating around a campfire when Whiplash's head shot up. "Quick, put the fire out." He hissed. "What -" Whip started, but Whiplash had already snuffed the flames with his tail. "Hide!" He snatched Whip up and fled toward the beach where he hid in a cave.
"Are you sure this is where Marena told us to go?" A dragon asked. "It looks kind of...deserted." "Cutter's right, I think we should keep flying." A female human said. "Wait! Guys, I see something!" The same dragon - Cutter - squawked.
"What is it, Cutter?" A female dragon asked. "I - I don't know." Cutter's voice dropped slightly. "Whatever it is, it's gone now." "Can we go? This place gives me the creeps." A male dragon's voice mumbled. "Burple's right, Dak. I think we should keep going." A different male agreed. "But Winger! Aren't you tired?" A male human - presumably Dak - asked.
"Of course! But I have a bad feeling about this place. It's burnt for a reason." Winger said. "Relax Winger, whatever burnt this area, it's clearly long gone by now. If someone had burned the area recently -" The female dragon began. "The plants would've been burnt, too!" The female person finished. "Exactly." The dragon said.
"Hey, look! I see some firewood!" A new female dragon's voice said. "I'll go heat it up." "Wait, Aggro!" The female person cried. "What is it, Leyla?" Aggro asked in an annoyed voice. "The embers haven't completely died down yet," Leyla said. "That must mean -" "Someone snuffed the flames recently!" The female dragon cried.
It was pretty obvious at this point the people could also talk dragon, and the female dragon and Leyla were rider and dragon.
Whip and Whiplash both glanced out of the cave to see four dragons hovering - Leyla on the female dragon and Dak on Winger. Cutter was circling above them, and Burple was glancing uneasily at the ground. Where was the fifth dragon's voice?
"Which means..." Leyla started. "Whoever did must still be nearby!" The female dragon, which looked equipped for swimming, finished again. "Alright, Summer. Fine. I guess we can find another island." "Thank goodness." Burple sighed as he flew off.
"That's the direction we need to go." Whiplash murmured. "Might as well follow them - in case they get into any trouble."
After a few minutes of explaining and convincing, the other Rider Jrs. agreed. Everything was going along smoothly, and they reached the fog bank and got through without getting caught or losing anyone - Other than Aphira, Whip remembered with a fresh stab of grief - until they ran into ships.
Ships that Whiplash immediately identified as Dragon Hunters.
And a dragon that Whiteout, Shadow, and Whip recognized.
The dragon with three feet, with Aphira on her back.
(For those of you that may be confused, the end of this chapter is the beginning of the last chapter. I wanted to show the fight from a perspective that can include the dragons' interactions - I'll pick Whip's chapters up to speed soon enough.)
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Fading Echoes - The Echoes, Book 2 - HTTYD Fanfiction
FanfictionAphira had met the dragons when she was very young with her Mother and her brother, Whip. However, she didn't remember it, and not even the stories that her Mother told in vivid detail stirred her memory. But when one day, suddenly several beasts...
