A New World, Complicated

Chapter 35: A Tale of Two Dragons (Reign)

"Oh, wow. This is repulsive!"

"Actually." Everyone looked over to see the twins each eating a rotten head, somehow able to stomach it without flinching. "It's not that bad."

"Yeah! Don't judge 'till you tried it." I gagged at the sight of them continuing to eat the rotten vegetable.

"Ok gang. My dad wants this field cleared and ready for planting by the end of the week. Reign, Snotlout, you two break down and clear out the big boulders on the far edge, while—"

"Actually, that sounds more like a man's job," Snotlout interjected. My anger surfaced again at his biting comment.

"Hmm. You're right. Better give me Fishlegs instead," I shot back.

"Huh? Reign, what do you see when you look over here?" He gestured his thumb back to Hookfang, then struck a pose attempting to flex what little muscle he had. I rolled my eyes and jutted out a hip, unamused.

"Is that a serious question?"

"You see five thousand pounds of boulder-crushing splendor."

"Just make sure you don't slow me down, boulder boy." I knocked on his helmet before getting onto Shriek and turning my attention toward the job at hand.

Everyone helped out with clearing away the rocks, meaning Snotlout and I could work together without actually having to work together. Things were going pretty smoothly, until Hookfang suddenly growled at Shriek and knocked into her, right in the middle of us moving a boulder. I glared at Snotlout as the dragons began to circle each other. He really just couldn't keep it in check today.

"Snotlout, what's wrong with you?" I shouted.

"I told you to stay out of my way. This is Viking's work."

"Exactly. So what are you doing here?"

Hookfang's pupils suddenly turned to slits, and he shot out a blast of fire, just barely missing Shriek. My Thunderdrum jumped back, startled, then emitted a sonic boom in an attempt to defend herself. They began firing back and forth, shocking me. Despite how often Snotlout and I fought with each other, the dragons had never gotten involved before.

Hiccup and Toothless attempted to intervene by firing a plasma blast and coming to stand between the two of us, but as the roaring continued, Toothless suddenly joined in and began screaming at them as well.

"Hookfang, stop! Heel!"

"Shriek, calm down!" I cried, pulling back to try and get her away.

"Whoa! Come on! We're trying to break up the fight, not win it!"

"Hookfang, stop it! Hookfang!"

"Shriek!"

"Guys, back your dragons away from each other!" I pulled harder on Shriek, but she continued to thrash and attempt to jump forward.

"I'm trying!"

"Well, try harder!" Nothing worked, so Hiccup tried to move on. "Okay, everyone to the rock pile." Thankfully, they managed to do that, and Snotlout and I immediately jumped off our dragons and faced off with each other.

"What is wrong with your dumb dragon?"

"Guys?" Hiccup attempted to break this up before it started, but he was too late.

"My dumb dragon? Your flaming Snot-mare was trying to barbecue us!"

"Guys?"

"Snot-mare? Snot-mare?" He paused for a moment, as though just processing what I'd said. "I kind of like that," he admitted in an aggressive tone.