After a brief breakfast, everyone gathered on the flight of stairs mixed with flatforms that led down to the extremely small and simple docks.
Gobber and Stoick could be heard chatting as they walked side by side down the stairs past the group towards the boat Gobber had taken. The Rumblehorn flew down and landed behind Stoick, a certain curiosity was in the dragons’ eyes as it stood.
Looking down I saw Stoick mount the Rumblehorn, declaring its name to be ‘Skull Crusher’.
“How fitting, and Stoick.. -E.” I said, while standing next to the twins. While I was happy for the chief of my village to have such a strong dragon and Stoick to have an important connection. It nudged a sore spot in my heart where a dragon sat in his.
A sad look must have crossed my face as Stoick flew away, as suddenly I got an eye full of Tuffnut and Ruffnut.
“Hey, what's up with you?” Tuffnut said,
“Yea, you look all sad, and mopey” Ruffnut said.
“I’m fine, guys it-” I was cut off as Hiccup called up to everyone.
“All right, guys, we have a lot of work to do!” Hiccup said, as Toothless and the rest of the dragons excitedly ran ahead and up to the arena.
Everyone walked in a group and Hiccup stopped to address the group as a whole.
“Okay so, these past few weeks have been a big lesson.” Hiccup started, gesturing to the Edge. It was slightly put together but there were definitely some ‘cracks’.
“Yeah, we definitely need better defences.” Astrid said, crossing her arms and resting her weight onto her right hip.
“Exactly, we need to be ready for any wild dragon! or even Dagur, who is still out there. Since the time we arrived here, we haven’t really prepared for any-” Hiccup said, using different encouraging gestures till he was cut off by a cough of someone clearing their throat.
Pausing he looked at Astrid, who had everyone else's attention as well. She then gestured with her thumb directly behind her to her hut and what sat atop it; a ballista strong enough to take out a dragon or ship with each harpoon.
“I think he means the entire base, but I know you have enough weapons in that hut to fully arm Berk and maybe the Outcasts.” I said, giving a light-hearted smile.
Everyone let out a chuckle but Hiccup was trying to be serious. “Come on guys, we need to get to work! ” He said rationally. “We will need a watchtower, an-”
“Oh oh oh! We can do that!” Tuffnut said eagerly, raising his hand and waving it excitedly
“Yeah we can! We totally can!” Ruffnut said crossing her arms,
They both then ran off, leaving Hiccup with his finger up and mouth slightly open in an informing way.
“Well, uh, now that that's taken care of, Astrid and Snotlout, you both can help out Y/n with building her hut.”
Astrid folded her arms and smiled in approval, Snotlout gave two thumbs up and smirked.
“I’m going to go work on a project that will make it harder for anyone to sneak up on us, Fishlegs? Are you going to continue studying the dragon eye?” Hiccup said,
“You bet!” Fishlegs said, giving one thumbs up.
Everyone then departed, going their separate ways as the bright sun was nearly level with the tall sea stacks, illuminating everything it touched.
“So, what’s this thing gonna look like?” Snotlout said as he walked over to Hookfang.
“And where will it be?” Astrid added, looking around and possible locations.
I Quickly took out my carefully folded up sketches, smoothing out the lines I handed several different sketches to Astrid and Snotlout.
“Mh, I like it.” Astrid said thoughtfully, “It’ll be very comfortable for any kind of dragon.”
“Mh… Awe Come ON!” Snotlout said outraged, he then hit the page with the back of his hand and said. “There's no S’s”
“Snotlout, not everything has to be covered in S’s.” Astrid said tiredly.
“Well it should be!” he said, squinting at the pages’ notes.
“Snotlout, if my hut and the rest of the edge is covered in S’s we wouldn’t be able to tell who’s hut is who’s. I said, “It’s one of the things that makes your hut special.”
His expression softened and an appreciative emotion flickered across his face before he cleared his throat and said. “Hah, you're right, my hut is pretty special! And my S too..”
“I plan on putting it on that cliff.” I said pointing at the flat cliff that was up and above both the twins hut and to the right of the stables. It was level with the cliff the clubhouse's raised platform was built on.
“It's one of the only areas that's close to the base but nice and open.” I added, collecting back the pages from Astrid and Snotlout.
“Alright, sounds like a good plan.” Astrid said, walking over to Stormfly. “You and Snotlout map out the bottom floor layout and where the supports for the deck will go, I’ll start gathering timber.”
With that order she flew off in the direction of the dense thicket that surrounded the edge.
“Come on, I’ll give you a lift.” Snotlout said, mounting Hookfang, gesturing with his left hand to hop on.
“Thanks, It’s been a while, how’ve you been Hookfang?” I said, gently patting his thin neck, he then let out a caw and grinned.
The way Snotlout flies on Hookfang is far different then the way Gustav rode Fanghook,
It felt like Gustav had to physically make Fanghook fly, it was more jolty and every wing flap felt like there was an extreme effort behind it.
This however feels like a smooth wave, slowly up and down with each wing flap,
Chill
Like an old friend,
Go figure
The flight and the reflection were equally as short, once landed and Snotlout and I were dismounted, he turned and reached out with an expectant hand.
“What?” I said, confused,
“The pages! I need to see how big this thing is.” Snotlout said annoyed with a snarky attitude.
“Oh, here, this one will show that the best.” I said, handing over a page, it showcased the rough dimensions of the main room and several objects that would comfortably fit inside it.
“Mh, alright…” Snotlout said drawing out the wood slowly, he paced around before grabbing a random stick off of the ground and starting to draw long lines in a rough rectangular shape that got smaller at the back.
“Two… add here… erase..” He muttered under his breath as he sketched out an outline and put several marks to where supports would go.
Snotlout continued to pace around and he focused entirely on the ground, erasing certain parts and sketching others. He was so focused that when Astrid landed next to you on Stormfly, he didn’t notice.
Stormfly held several logs in her mouth and when she landed she dropped several on the ground in front of her.
“Wow, once he sets his mind to it, he’s pretty good at getting stuff done.” Astrid said, turning to look down at you. “Don’t tell him I said that.” She quickly added
“Well, I don’t think he’d have heard you even if you screamed it.” I gestured to Snotlout who was still busy sketching out the huts’ dimensions.
You and Astrid chuckled a bit but didn’t notice Snotlout had finished and turned around, suddenly a loud yell caught the attention of both of you.
“HEY! You're gonna help me or am I gonna have to build this thing myself!” He yelled angrily, grabbing a log and starting to line up the bigger logs for support.
“Alright alright, what's your plan?” I said, looking around at the complex drawings and notes.
“Okay, first, we set the biggest logs as the mainframe,” Snotlout started,
The sun had risen even higher in the sky to shine directly overhead, making the already tired vikings even hotter. Then the parched trio marched over to the clubhouse and grabbed several skins of cool water that had been sitting in the shade under several layers of skinned hide. They didn’t notice Fishlegs and Meatlug in the room over in the dark viewing glowing golden messages from the dragon eye.
Suddenly a plasma blast was heard outside.
“Hey Astrid, come take a look at this!” It was Hiccup. Astrid and I exited through the left side and walked out to the front of the clubhouse.
Snotlout however stayed and started to talk to Fishlegs.
“Wow, what’s this Hiccup?” I asked, looking at a barrel on stilts that had two holes, one at the front and one at the back.
“Look through it, you’ll see.” Hiccup replied and Astrid bent over and peered through the barrel.
She paused for a second before speaking. “Nice. I can see straight to the horizon.” Amazement evident in her voice.
“That should definitely make it harder for anyone to sneak up on us.” Hiccup said standing up from hammering a piece of metal onto the side. “Now, I wonder how the twins’ lookout tower is coming along.”
“I can only imagine.” Astrid said sarcastically as Hiccup went back to building, adding more stabilizers to the legs.
Snotlout walked over and was about to say something but suddenly a green Zippleback flew fast towards the group and landed with a skidding halt.
“Hiccup! Drop everything you’re doing and bring your face!” Tuffnut said confidently. Hiccup turned around slightly confused at their urgency.
“Prepare to be rubbed!” Ruffnut said, crossing her arms.
They quickly then flew off in the direction of the tower. The rest of the gang looked at eachother and Hiccup shrugged.
Astrid mounted Stormfly, Snotlout on Hookfang, and Hiccup on toothless. A small pang hit your chest as you hurried over to Stormfly, getting on behind Astrid with little trouble from the repeated practice.
By the time everyone arrived over, the twins had barf and belch standing and spreading their short wings to hide the tower behind them.
Tuffnut then began a presentation of the newly built tower. “Dragon riders, you asked for it. We built it. Presenting you…”
“Brrpurpbrrr” Ruffnut added
“With your new rock lookout tower!” Tuffnut said drawing out each word.
“Yeah!” Ruffnut said, quickly gesturing to barf and belch to move.
Suddenly faced with the open sea, not a lookout tower in sight, Snotlout said monotony with a hint of amusement. “You guys never disappoint, do you?”
“What? NO! Wait! It was here a minute ago!” Tuffnut said desperately, before his eyes flickered over to his equally as surprised sister and he frowned.
“What did you do with it?” Tuffnut accused
“What!? I didn’t do anything with it!” Ruffnut said outraged
“You lying she-beast! You were jealous of my rock tower.” Tuffnut said before turning slightly away and putting his fists on his hips, and puffing out his chest in an exaggerated way.
“YOUR ROCK TOWER?” Ruffnut said with a snarl before lunging at Tuffnut, diving headfirst into him and punching him several times as they fought and kicked at each other.
“It was MY rock tower.” “Ow AH!” “ow ow!”
Suddenly the twins lept away from each other and somehow pulled out an ax and a mace.
Tuffnut and Ruffnut both yelled and raised their weapons, charging at each other.
“I thought Tuffnut would have grabbed a mace..” you muttered under your breath to Snotlout.
Suddenly Hiccup stepped between the two of them and put his arms out to stop each of them. “Okay, Okay, Okay. Let’s everyone step away from the sharp objects.”
They then let the weapons fall to the ground, “ah, okay, look, maybe this job was just too tough for you to do alone.” Hiccup said, trying to reason why an entire rock tower vanished.
“I can always put Astrid on the project with you.” He added, pointing behind him to Astrid who quickly said “Ah! Hiccup, let’s not be hasty.”
“But we did build it. Honest!” Ruffnut said, exasperated.
“And trust me H, No one was more surprised about that than we were.” Tuffnut said, calming down even more.
“I kinda believe them, I mean, they do some weird stuff but straight faced lies are not one of them” I gestured out at the sea to Astrid.
“Thank. You!” Tuffnut said exasperated.
Suddenly a loud call echoed from around the Edge, reverberating and everyone heard it. “Hiccup! Hiccup, come quick!” Fishlegs said
“That does not sound good.” Astrid said as Snotlout got a worried expression on his face.
Hiccup quickly mounted Toothless and sped off towards base.
Then Ruffnut and Tuffnut started to walk off in the opposite direction.
“Where are you two going?” Astrid said, “This may be important!”
“IF it’s important, someone will let us know, now we gotta spend another day rebuilding this thing!” Tuffnut said tiredly, Ruffnut nodded and followed.
“I think they may be right, if it is important, Hiccup or Fishlegs will definitely come get us.” I reasoned, “we still have a good chunk of daylight left, we should get to work.”
Snotlout and Astrid agreed and Astrid went to get more timber while Snotlout and I started flying back to the build site.
Though Berk wasn’t built in a day, but it felt like this hut was. The skeleton of the building was done, along with the flooring for the bottom and top floor, the structural supports for the future deck were also put together by the time the sun had set and the trio was exhausted.
Everyone grouped back together at the clubhouse for the nightly dinner, Fishlegs was giddy with excitement, he couldn’t sit still till Snotlout finally asked what everyone was thinking, to an extent.
“Fishlegs! Do you have to pee or something?” Snotlout said while stabbing his lambchop with a fork.
“No Snotlout, gross, I just have an amazing announcement!” Fishlegs said, and everyone leaned in, aside from Hiccup who was just waiting for the news to spill.
“I was testing to see how different rocks affected meatlugs lava on the dragon ey-” Fishlegs started quickly saying in a frenzy of excitement.
“Blah Blah Blah! Who cares! Get to the good part! Is it a new treasure map?” Snotlout interrupted.
Fishlegs sighed and then glared at Snotlout before ignoring him and continuing. “I found a map.. to Dark Deep!” He finally said with excitement.
Everyone was quiet with confusion, before I spoke up. “Uhh, Dark Deep? Like the ancestral home of the gronckles Dark Deep? You've never heard of it?” I asked, confused at their confusion.
“Uhhhhaaa, Nope! Yeah.. Never heard of it.” Tuffnut said while picking his nose.
“Anyways, Meatlug and I are going to be the first ones to step down on Dark Deep in all of Berkian history!” Fishlegs said, almost shaking in excitement off of his chair.
“And, I will be going with, to make sure everything goes well.” Hiccup added with a hint of worry in his voice.
“Sounds like you’ll be busy being star struck, do you mind if I come along to take notes?” I asked before taking a bite out of a steamed potato.
“Starstruck? I’m not starstruck!” Fishlegs said defensively fast. Everyone looked at him surprised.
“I didn’t say you were..” I said quietly. “But other than that, do you two mind if I go and visit Dark Deep for a little while?” I asked, pulling the conversation back to Dark Deep.
“I don’t mind, I can gather some more lumber but we can wait till you return to continue building.” Astrid said, giving a warm smile.
Then you turned to Snotlout to see his response.
“Eh, whatever, I wanted to take a nap tomorrow anyways.” He said, leaning back in his chair, bringing up the front two legs and rolling his eyes.
“Uhhhhh, but you haven’t even slept through the night.” Tuffnut said, drawing out his words.
“Shuddaup Tuff” Snotlout said quickly.
Ruffnut quickly stood up from her chair and snuck up behind him, before grabbing the two nubs on either side at the top of the back of the chair, and quickly yanking it down causing Snotlout to yell out as he fell. She ran off into the evening, closely followed by Tuffnut and loud belts of raspy laughter.
Snotlout quickly bolted up and yelled out in anger before charging off in the direction of the twins.
After that the evening died down and everyone returned to their huts. Astrid gave you a supportive pat on the shoulder and nodded before running off in the direction of her and Hiccups’ huts.
*Knock Knock Knock*
I gently knocked on the door to Fishlegs hut, hurried footsteps sounded behind the door and it opened.
“Hey Y/n, what are you doing here?” Fishlegs said with a friendly smile.
“I wanted to help you prepare for the journey to Dark Deep, it can’t be close by.” I said, “I also realize I left my old dragon journal back on Berk.”
“OO yes! Come in, I have just the thing!” Fishlegs beckoned you to come in, quickly turning around and walking over to his desk to shuffle through papers, books, and maps.
Looking around you noticed a small bag packed, several different rocks, bottles of rations, and a couple papers.
“Here, I was going to use this for the different dragons out here but there are so many more than I thought, that a full analysis of each dragon won’t fit in it.” Fishlegs said from behind you, turning he offered a small journal.
It had two pencils, one half used but both were in a sewn strap on the front, and a strap that started at the top of the spine, wrapped around twice and ended in the middle at the bottom through a small hole that kept the pages safely in the leather bindings.
“Awe, thanks Fishlegs, I’ll definitely use it!” I said, checking out the pages inside, each was still in pristine condition with only a few rips and tears at the corners.
“Aw, it’s alright, I hope you’ll enjoy it!” Fishlegs said bashfully.
“Hey, you have your dragon notes right? Can I copy some of them?” I asked, flipping through the empty pages.
“Oh yea sure! You go ahead and write what you need, I’m heading to bed, Meatlug and I have a very busy day tomorrow! And Meatlug needs her beauty sleep.” Fishlegs said, hugging Meatlug before retiring to his bed.
You gently grabbed a tall singular lit candle and moved it onto the desk closer to the papers.
Quietly you flip through several pages of Fishlegs’ and copied Bork notes.
“Nadder, Zippleback, Nightmare, Gronckle, Terrible Terror…. Ah there. we. are…” You murmured to yourself as you flipped through the commonly found dragon species of Berk.
Then you separated the more uncommon dragons’ pages from the regulars. A small stack formed as you started flipping through each page, noting the name, size, and stats of each.
I know almost all there is to know about the main four and the Nightfury, but I haven't seen these notes in a while.
Scauldron, Flightmare, Whispering Death, Screaming Death, Armorwing, Boneknapper, Changewing, Deathsong, Smothering Smokebreath, Snaptrapper, Speed Stinger, Timberjack, Fireworm, Singetail, Typhoomerang, Snow Wraith, Seashocker, Thunderdrum, and the new Rumblehorn.
Ah.. Thunderdrums, I miss Thornado..
This is going to be a long night… I’ll sketch the dragons’ picture later to save time.
Setting to work as the moon started to rise above the horizon line, it took several hours, and the moon was in the middle of the sky before you started to doze off while leaning on the desk, head laying in the bend of your right elbow.
“Y/n” A gentle hand pushed at your shoulder, and a voice tried to shake you from your slumber.
Your mind is entirely out, so the hand pushes again, a little rougher.
“Y/n come on! Unless you want to miss the new discovery of Dark Deep!” The voice called again, becoming slightly familiar.
“Dar- what?” Slurring my words my heavily lidded eyes suddenly sprang open, sitting up in surprise I felt like my heart jumped to attention. “Wha- Whait Wait! I’m up I’m up”
Quickly rising to my feet I felt lightheaded suddenly from the rush of standing up.
“Woah Woah, it’s alright, you looked pretty tired so I let you sleep in, Hiccup and I are about to leave- If you still want to come along.”
“Yes! Yes, thanks, I’ll join you both.” I said, calming my heart beat, grabbing the journal. I borrowed a simple saddle bag with the Berk crest and a dragons’ tooth on it to make sure I don’t lose the book.
Fishlegs opened the huts’ large door and hopped up on top of Meatlug, quickly I jumped up behind him.
Quickly Fishlegs zooms off on Meatlug like a happy bee. I had to grab onto the sides of the flat saddle so I wouldn’t fall off.
“Huh, where’s Hiccup?” Fishlegs asked as you both waited at the club house for the pair.
Looking around for the stark black dragon, I managed to spot them down at the far side of the island.
“There! I see them!” I pointed at the dark outline of the cat-like dragon.
“Good eye Y/n! Let's go see what they’re up to.” Fishlegs said before Meatlug started fluttering over to the small group.
As soon as you three approached the twins flew off in a huff, angry about something.
“Uh, what was that about?” I asked, looking around trying to find a cause for the twins’ annoyance.
“Nevermind, you both ready to headout to Dark Deep?” Hiccup said, hopping on Toothless with a quick audible metallic scraping sound that announced that his prosthetic leg was clicked into place with the saddle's foot hold.
“Yes!” Fishlegs said excitedly, so excitedly in fact his voice cracked.
“Okay, but if Meatlug gets tired carrying two people, you can ride with us.” Hiccup added.
Then he took off with several wingbeats which sent him zooming forward with ease and grace.
Fishlegs and Meatlug giddily zoomed after, a slight hum coming from Meatlug’s wings as she hurried forward with excitement.
The flight was long but far from boring, once sharp spikes were littered in the vast open water, Fishlegs burst into song.
“Dark Deep! At least I’ve found you-”
“Dark Deep! The Gronckles surround you-”
He sang in a slightly deeper tone, hinting at his maturity.
Hiccup let out a bit of laughter before saying. “Fishlegs, I haven’t seen you this excited since Snoggletog morning when we were seven.”
“I know. I couldn’t even finish third breakfast!” Fishlegs said with his hands in fists and clenched near his face with joy
“I hope I don’t get too hungry.” Fishlegs said, looking down at Meatlug who still wore a happy smile ear to ear.
“Dark Deep here we come!” Fishlegs yelled out with one hand in the air, as everyone sped along.
“Woah..” I muttered, peeking from behind Fishlegs, I saw a huge island that looked like it used to be a huge spikey bramble bush turned to stone.
Finding a vast flat area next to a ravine, Fishlegs landed Meatlug onto the ground and leapt off before letting out a howl.
“WHOOOOooo Oh yeah! Oh, Yeah, Fishlegs! Hehehoo” Fishlegs celebrated. He then put his hands to his face and danitly walked around. “I can’t believe I’m actually here.” He said with awe.
Meatlug then jolted forward sending me off balance, whirling my arms in the air I tried to regain balance.
“Sorry, girl. We’re here.” Fishlegs said, giving Meatlug a hug.
“ Whoooah, ACK- OAhf-” I yelled as I fell off Meatlug onto the hard ground below.
“Ooh ow, Oof, Well, Sorry Hiccup, Guess I’m the second person on Dark Deep.” I said standing up and rubbing my lower back which had taken the brunt of the fall.
“It’s okay, I’ll settle for third, are you alright?” Hiccup said while hovering on Toothless.
Fishlegs gave you a quick look before walking forward and grabbing two rocks, throwing one to meatlug as he sang again.
“Dark Deep is your home-”
“Where all the rock eaters roam-”
Toothless let out a small growl and Hiccup shrugged without saying a word.
“Where Gronckles have fun-”
“Eating rocks by the ton-”
On that note Hiccup landed next to you, as you both stared at Fishlegs who spun around with his arms outstretched, dancing.
“And the rocks are all..rocky-” He continued with a hint of hesitation
“With families of rocks- And feeding- their.. EHRm Cough Cough.”
“I’ll work on that last part Hiccup” Fishlegs finished but much quieter.
“Hey No, look, I love the song. It’s just one thing.” Hiccup said before gesturing out at the vast rock-y island. “Where are the roaming Gronckles? You think we could we have have landed on the wrong Isl–”
“Hah, No. That’s Gravel Lake, and the dual peaks of Mount Grunt” Fishlegs reassured
“Hiccup, this is Dark Deep.” He added
“Uh, then why do I have a bad feeling growing in my stomach?” I whispered half to myself and half to Hiccup and Toothless.
Toothless let out a low hum and Hiccup looked down at him and said. “Yeah, I’m with you two.”
Suddenly Meatlug let out an excited growl, looking over I spotted her perched at the edge of a more open part of the thin ravine, staring intently down into it.
Fishlegs walked over first and Hiccup and I followed suit.
Looking down Fishlegs then said. “Oh! Look. Meatlug found some new friends.”
“Told you there were Gronckles here.” He said confidently.
Meatlug then quickly grumbled happily and flew down landing a few wing lengths away from the trio of Gronckles.
She happily waddled up opening her mouth to Grunt a warm welcome, she moved her ears and wings and her pupils went wide. Though her friendly demeanor and greeting wasn’t returned.
The three all went into a threatening position, wings up, teeth bared in a snarl, and they let out rumbling roars.
Fishlegs attempted to climb down in but fell halfway, quickly standing up and cracking his back.
Hiccup glanced over to me and I hopped on Toothless and we both jumped down into the crack.
“That’s strange behavior for a Gronckle. They’re usually pretty friendly.” Hiccup said, slightly worried.
I quickly took out my book from the saddle bag that was slung around my shoulder, I grabbed the half used charcoal pencil and opened up to a free page, scribbling down a couple notes on the Island and the Gronckles behavior.
-Dark gray rocky Island with no vegetation, dead trees
-Few dragons but found 3 Gronckles, Blue, purple, and orange
-Threatening but didn’t attack, fearful
-Defensive
-many ravines
As soon as I brought my pencil up from the page, the ground started to shake and loud cracking noises echoed with booms along the ravines' steep walls.
“Oh oh oh !” You three said, surprised by the sudden quakes.
“That could be what’s doing it. No one likes an earthquake.” Fishlegs reasoned.
“But if it was just an earthquake-” I started to say but quickly grew quiet as the seat underneath me lowered and an eerie hiss came out from toothless.
His wings spread far in a threatening position and his ears and nubs quickly rose, whatever was at the end of this crack had his full attention.
“See?” Fishlegs said, trying to prove his point.
Suddenly toothless leaned back and then forward letting out a loud roar, his retractable teeth fully out.
A poof of dust appeared at the end in the darkness of the ravine, peering forward, everyone didn’t see what was coming till a small flicker of light from above lit up the path.
It was a huge spikey boulder rolling downhill towards the group.
“Runaway Boulder!” Fishlegs yelled and everyone's eyes widened in terror.
The three Gronckles eyes widened in terror and they cried out in fear.
Toothless jolted forward and I lost my balance, quickly I grabbed onto Hiccup's shoulders to keep myself steady.
“Meatlug!” Fishlegs cried, hurrying to get onto his dragon.
Toothless confidently ran in front of the group and fired a plasma blast.
It did nothing.
Fear flashed across his features and he fired again and started backing up, firing one last time Toothless turned around and ran.
The boulder however was too close and too fast for the dragons to out run in the narrow area.
“Fishlegs!” Hiccup yelled
Suddenly Toothless leapt up onto the opposite wall and jumped into the Gronckles slamming all four into the wall, causing the boulder to roll past without any injury to the group.
“Ooh, ooh, That was close.” Fishlegs said, feeling relief.
I peered around Hiccup and looked down at Toothless, his face was still in a threatening expression, teeth out, and eyes narrowed in focus.
“Uhhhh, guys?” I said cautiously
Suddenly the boulder rolled to a stop, and everyone peered forward like before to try and get a good look.
Then it slowly but ominously started rolling uphill, against gravity.
“Hey, uh, Fishlegs? When was the last time you saw a boulder roll uphill?” Hiccup asked rhetorically.
“Um, never?” Fishlegs said, his Dark Deep enthusiasm lost to nerves.
“Yeah. Me, neither.” Hiccup said quickly.
“Guys I’ve never seen a boulder with spikes before.” I said, slightly pointing in the direction of the spikey boulder.
“How is that possible?” Fishlegs said, his curious nature starting to peek through his fear.
“No time to find out!” Hiccup said quickly, with Toothless crouching below us with his mouth slightly open, ready to fire.
At Hiccup's comment he looked up and his eyes softened before he bolted back down the way we had come, running as fast as he could.
“We can’t avoid it!” Fishlegs cried, looking up to try and find a way out before he looked at Hiccup in desperation.
Toothless quickly turned his head while running and sent an explosive blast behind him.
Suddenly spotting a small crack in the wall I pointed to it. “There!” I told Hiccup, holding onto him tighter.
“Quickly, down here.” Hiccup yelled up to Fishlegs as all three Gronckles dived into the crack ahead of Fishlegs.
Toothless dove for the crack and slipped in, causing both Hiccup and I to fly off his back as Fishlegs flew off of Meatlug.
I flew into the far wall, hitting my head hard and getting the wind knocked out of me, my head spiraled .
“Hah.. ha. . GaSSP HUff HUfff,” I rasped to get air into my lungs, Hiccup gingerly stood and rubbed his head.
“It doesn’t look like we can fly out, bud.” I heard Hiccup say as I stood up, holding onto the wall for support.
At that note Meatlug let out a high pitched sorrowful whine, Fishlegs quickly grabbed onto his bottom jaw and comforted her. “It’s okay. I think we lost it.” He said out of breath.
“Then let’s move out. Quietly.” Hiccup said in a hush tone, I stumbled a bit from the rough landing and Hiccup helped me over to Toothless.
“You got thrown pretty hard, I think you’d better stay on Toothless in case that thing comes back.” He said as Toothless blent down slightly and let me onto his back.
“Thanks,” I whispered, scratching Toothless’s neck, he let out a happy hum and everyone started carefully walking out of the cave to try and find a way out.
“Gurrglmmm” Fishlegs stomach rumbles, echoing louder than I thought possible around the stoney walls.
Everyone looked back at him, Gronckles included. “What? That’s what happens when you don’t eat third breakfast.” Fishlegs said at normal volume, giving a nervous smile.
Suddenly a familiar rumbling sound echoed in the direction everyone was walking in, raising your head, you saw the ‘runaway’ boulder rolling toward you all again.
“Uh, Hiccup?” Fishlegs said, glancing back and tempted to return to the hidden crack.
“I see it, Fishlegs.” Hiccup said, his stance widened and he looked prepared to run.
Suddenly about half the original distance away it slammed forward and stopped.
As it did so it unrolled and a giant dragon stood before the group, on all fours its small wings pressed against its body, like a giant gray and spikey Gronckle.
Its head raised and it had deep golden and red eyes, with several large spikes protruding from his forehead.
I tried to reach for my journal to get a rough sketch of the thing but suddenly it opened its mouth and roared, shaking the entire tunnel with his deep call. Its jaw was separated into two separate bottom jaws, each with a purple tongue, coming together to make a round chin.
Everyone covered their ears, it was like being at the side of a thunderdrums’ call, the deep bellow resembled a drums’ boom and the warning horn for a Screaming Death attack.
As soon as it stopped everyone looked up and it charged, stomping forward like a Gronckle.
“Aaaaaauuuhhhhhhhhh!” Everyone screamed and Hiccup dived out of the way as it turned around and swung its blunt tail that had a singular sharp spike at the end, at Hiccups’ head.
Huge rocks fell from the ceiling, and I dove off of Toothless and into Hiccup, Toothless quickly extended his wings and covered Fishlegs as well.
His face showed determination as he fought to keep his wings up as rocks hit them and rolled off.
Muffled from the rocks falling, the three Gronckles in the back whimpered in fear.
Fishlegs removed his hands from over his head and started to analyze the new dragon.
“Impressive. Definitely a Boulder Class.” Fishlegs said with nervous laughter.
“Hiccup! What do you think of Catastrophic Quaken as a name?” Fishlegs added, completely misreading the situation. Toothless looked over with his mouth hanging slightly open with his teeth bared, slightly panting.
“Well, I think we should name it later and focus on not getting killed by it now.” Hiccup answered quickly and slightly sarcastically.
Pulling your arm in signal, Hiccup and you quickly mounted Toothless. Reeling back Toothless then sent a plasma blast directly in the tough dragons’ eye, making it recoil harshly.
It then lunged forward and roared loudly, its wings spread out in an offensive manner. Toothless fired another shot and lept up onto a ledge above the Catastrophic Quaken and used that leverage to try and climb over the edge of the ravine.
I held on tight as Toothless hoped around the ravine
It roared again, its pink maw just below Toothless's red tail, Toothless quickly dived away as the Quaken lunged forward and crashed through the overhanging rock.
“As long as it’s rolled up in that ball, we’re safe.” Hiccup said as we landed back on the ground. “Fishlegs! Get those Gronckles in the air.”
Fishlegs quickly urged the Gronckles into the air and as soon as they saw an opening all three blasted through the opened hole the Quaken had caused.
The Quaken looked up and where they had gone, it then looked back to us and lunged forward. Fishlegs quickly bolted through the exit, followed quickly by Hiccup and I.
It burst out right behind us, its wide jaws opening before they snapped close, it gave up the chase and fell back to the ground, curling up as it fell.
I turned away from watching the giant dragon, focusing on remaining balanced. Suddenly it sounded like an earthquake split the island, Fishlegs screamed as he was blown straight off Meatlug.
I held on tight to Hiccup as Toothless spun upside down twice, before righting himself.
“Okay, on second thought, maybe we’re not so safe after all.” Hiccup said, perfectly fine with the jolt.
Toothless flapped hard and quickly dove for Fishlegs, catching him by the shoulders and dropping him back onto Meatlug.
“Fishlegs, Meatlug, retreat.” Hiccup said quickly, bolting away from the impact crater the Quaken had caused.
“I thought you’d never ask.” Fishlegs worried.
We swooped around the Quaken and it roared again in defense but didn’t advance off of the ground.
Toothless started to climb higher as Fishlegs quickly collected the three Gronckles that were cowering behind several piles of rocks, the dragons quickly forgot their aggression and followed Fishlegs without issue.
As soon as we were over water and fully off of Dark Deep, everyone exhaled with relief.
“What the heck was THAT?” I said exasperated, rubbing my head from the rough flying that had reawakened my headache.
“That will be going in the book of dragons, did you get a good sketch of it?” Fishlegs said, excited.
“Ah, a sketch, I’ll get on that.” I said, letting go of my death grip on Hiccup and taking out my journal to sketch the hedgehog-lookin dragon.
“The Quaken.. It reminds me of something..” I muttered absentmindedly, using the dark thick charcoal to draw the spikes on the circular dragon.
“Mh..? Did you say something?” Hiccup said, turning slightly to look back.
“Yea.. the Quaken.. It’s familiar.” I said again louder.
“How so? We’ve never been to this island or even this whole archipelago.” Fishlegs said.
I wracked my brain trying to think of what this dragon reminded me of.
Spikes.. Boulder class…
“The Screaming Death..” I said at last.
Everyone quieted down.
Fishlegs got a saddened look on his face before he continued to flutter on followed by the three Gronckles.
The flight was a quiet one, but once everyone reached the edge the sky turned a molted gold hue and the sun began to set.
Everyone, even Snotlout came to see the group as we returned.
Though he was less than excited to see the tag-alongs.
“Really? More Gronckles?” Snotlout said annoyed, gesturing to the three happy Gronckles that quickly made themselves at home.
“Just a few stray Gronckles. We should be able to handle that.” Hiccup said.
“Wait, what do you mean, “more”, Snotlout?” I asked as I hopped off of Toothless, and approaching.
“Just a few strays, he says.” Ruffnut joked, standing next to Tuffnut.
“Yeah, you should really have a look at this.” Astrid said, gesturing behind her with a thumb.
Everyone followed Astrid to where the arena was, slightly slanted into the ground and filled to the brim with roughly 20+ Gronckles.
“So this is where all the Gronckles from Dark Deep went.” Hiccup said, looking down into the pit.
“Can you believe they flew all this way?” Fishlegs said excitedly, “Gronckles may be slow, but they are tenacious.”
“Curious that they flew here of all places, but I guess one found its way here and told its friends.” I said, looking at the multicolored dragons.
“Yeah, tell me about it..” Tuffnut said boredly.
“Hey!” Tuffnut said, pointing at an orange-y red Gronckle that had started to crush and eat a decent sized rock.
“Don’t you put that rock in your mouth. You have no idea where it’s been, mister.” Tuffnut tried to parent the Gronckle, but it then ran away like a dog that doesn’t want to drop what's in its mouth.
“Hiccup these guys are out of control. We have to get them to their island.” Astrid said urgently.
“There might be a problem with that.” Hiccup said, nervous to break the bad news.
“Uh-hu, They’ve been chased from their homeland by a giant Boulder Class dragon. The Catastrophic Quaken, to be exact.” Fishlegs said.
I pulled out my book and showed Astrid as Snotlout barged in between Hiccup and Fishlegs and started talking shit about the Quaken.
“That thing looks gnarly.” Astrid said, looking at my notes and sketch.
“Yea, it reminds me of the Screaming Death, not a dragon to be taken lightly.” I said, looking away from Astrid towards Snotlout.
“Okay, Let’s just drop it! We have a bigger problem here!” Hiccup said, interrupting Snotlout’s verbal assault.
“We need to wrangle all these wild Gronckles, and since I unfairly doubted the twins, I’m putting them in charge.” Hiccup ordered.
“Awesome. It’ll be nice to get to know these guys better.” Tuffnut approached, holding a very wet rock. “We got off to a little bit of a rocky... start… on our relationship.” He joked, laughing slightly.
Everyone started walking away, “You see what I did there? I’ll explain it later.” Tuffnut said, still trying to make the joke land. “My humor can be quite complex.”
Tuffnut and Ruffnut mounted Barf and Belch and started to chase the Gronckles around.
I started to walk back to my half-built hut, but Astrid stopped me.
“Hey, you look exhausted, you should head to bed early, we can continue construction in the morning.” She said, giving a small smile.
“Thanks, do you think Snotlout will be able to continue working?” I asked, looking as Snotlout walked towards a very defeated looking Fishlegs.
“Nope, he’ll be busy trying to pick a fight with that Quaken thing, but we can finish your hut by ourselves.” Astrid said, guiding me towards the stairs that led up to her hut. “But right now you need sleep, you look like you got into a fight with an angry Terror.”
“Thanks, Astrid, that Quaken really tossed us all around.” I said as I climbed the stairs.
She waved, hopped on Stormfly and flew away.
Pheph.. my head, how do they do this crap every day?