A distant moan from a dragon pierces through the cheering, confusing and silencing the cheering crowd.
"What the...?" Stoick mutters, looking at the sky for the source of the sound.
A dragon flew by, not a second after, hundreds of dragon is seen following.
Berk's dragons chitter and screech. They look up to the sky. Eyes narrow. Claws extend. Animal instinct is taking over.
"What in Thor's name?!" Gobber exclaims, confused by all the dragons passing by.
A Monstrous Nightmare perched on a roof lets out a savage roar before flying away, followed by the other dragons. Snotlout, who is hanging on the edge of the roof, yells out to it, "Come back! Where are you going?"
"Oh! Meatlug!" Fishlegs yells, trying to keep his dragon from leaving.
Worry and panic spreads through the crowd. They yell at each other.
"What's going on?!" Ruffnut exclaims.
"What's happening?!" Tuffnut yells.
"Flame! Where are you going? Come back!" Agnes calls to her dragon, but her Terrible Terror simply left. No looking back.
Ingrid watches the panicking and worried crowd, only one thing comes to her mind.
'Where's Hiccup?'
Hiccup and Toothless fly through an ominous looking storm cloud. Hiccup looks down at Toothless.
"What do you say, bud? Wanna go again?" Hiccup asks.
Hiccup looks up and suddenly, hundreds of dragons are headed their way. Toothless swerves in the sky to avoid the dragons as they pass by them.
"Whoa, whoa!" Hiccup exclaims.
A Nadder's wing nicks Hiccup's head, knocking his helmet off his head.
"Oh, no, my helmet!" Hiccup cried as he watch his only remembrance from his late mother plummet down to the ocean in dismay.
Toothless, sensing his human's distress, dives after the helmet taking Hiccup by surprise.
"Whoa! Toothless, no, no, no! Whoa, wait! Toothless Stop!" Hiccup orders, pulling on the saddle, getting Toothless to stop, much to the dragon's confusion.
'Doesn't he want his metal head bowl with animal horns back?'
"We'll get it later, bud. We need to get back and find out what's going on." Reluctantly, Toothless gave the ocean one last glance before flying towards the village.
All across Berk, the Vikings' dragons are taking flight. Vikings try to stop them, but to no avail.
"What's the matter? Where are you going?" A Viking asks his Monstrous Nightmare, only to be ignored as the dragon took flight.
Both Stormfly and Sage looked at each other before waddling away, the latter giving Ingrid a nudge, and leaps into the sky.
"No, no! Don't leave, Stormfly. Don't go! Please?"
"Sage? Wait! Please don't leave!"
The girls' pleas fell on deaf ears as their dragons flew off to join the other dragons.
Toothless lands on Berk, getting nearby Vikings' attention. Hiccup jumps off of Toothless and runs towards Astrid and a distraught Ingrid.
"Ingrid! Astrid!" Hiccup shouted. Ingrid perked up at the sound of his voice.
"Hiccup!" Ingrid shouted, hugging the boy. "Are you okay? Do you know what's going on?"
"I-I'm fine. As for what's going on, I don't know." Hiccup answers truthfully.
"But do you know where the dragons are heading?" Astrid asks.
Confused and desperate Vikings approach the group and started questioning Hiccup, the dragon expert, demanding answers.
"Why did they leave?"
"What's happening?"
"What if they never come back?"
The situation overwhelms Hiccup as he himself doesn't know or understand what's going on.
"Stop, please!" Hiccup shouted, trying to calm the panicking Vikings.
"Calm down!" Stoick easily brushes the crowd aside to get to Hiccup. "Give him a chance to speak! Hiccup, where are all of our dragons going?"
The crowd quietened down at the question. Anxiously waiting for Hiccup's answer.
"Dad... I don't know."
A roar made them all turn to see Stormfly flying by the cliffs where Toothless is. The Nadder tries to encourage the Night Fury to join the rest of the dragons, but Toothless can't, due to his tail fin. Hiccup watches in dismay.
Stormfly flies toward Sage who waited, before the two follow the flight of dragons.
At night, the Vikings gathered at the Great Hall. A dark, cavernous room covered in drawings of conquered dragons. Vikings surround the central fire pit, talking loudly in groups.
"Where'd they go?"
"Snoggletog is ruined!"
"It's not ruined!" Stoick exclaims, getting the attention of the crowd as he climbs up unto a table. "We're Vikings! Now we've been perfectly happy celebrating without dragons for generations, and there's no reason we can't do it again."
In the corner, the teens are sulking. They're not exactly soaking up Stoick's optimism like the others.
"Now we don't know where they've gone off to, but we have to have fail that they'll be back soon. Am I right?"
"You're right! We are Vikings! We're tough!" Gobber shouted, supporting his friend and chief as he stands in the corner of the room, wearing decorated antler horns and a bell-covered arm. The bells jingle. "...Most of the time."
The teens sigh and leave the Great Hall.
"Let's sing some snoggletog songs!"
The teens walk side by side in the streets. It's night on Berk, but the streets are unusually quiet without the dragons. The teens complain.
"That was depressing..." Ruffnut said.
"I know. I was looking forward to spending the holiday with Stormfly." Astrid said.
"We are... were excited to spending the holiday with all our dragons..." Ingrid sighs.
A whistling tune caught seven of the teens' attention. They all turned to see Fishlegs, who was surprisingly not upset with the loss of the dragons.
"What are you so happy about? Don't you miss Meatlug?" Tuffnut asks the large teen, who was caught off guard by the question.
Fishlegs puts on a show of sadness for the other teens, fake tears and all. "Me? Oh, yeah. I miss him so much.... Well, good night!" Shielding his face from the other teens, he not-so-subtly walked away.
Agnes narrowed her eyes in suspicion as the other teens ignored him.
Astrid suddenly gasps in excitement. "I've got an idea. Let's come up with a bunch of new holiday traditions. You know, to bury the sadness."
The other teens, except for Ingrid and Hiccup, groans in response.
"That's a great idea Astrid. Brainstorming new and exciting traditions is fun, it could bring everybody's holiday spirit back!" Ingrid immediately agreed, knowing fully well the experience at being the receiving end of Astrid's anger. The four teens groaned again, too depressed to be optimistic.
The two blondes turns to Hiccup hoping his opinion will let the others join in. Astrid gives Hiccup a cold stare while Ingrid gives him a pleading one, urging him to agree.
"Actually, they might be unto something." Hiccup said, getting the message.
"Easy for you to say. Your dragon can't go anywhere without you." Tuffnut said, gesturing to Toothless, who was looking over the ledge of a cliff.
"Must be nice." Ruffnut said venomously at Hiccup.
Ruffnut, Tuffnut, Snotlout, Agnes and Astrid walks away. Ingrid watch as Hiccup looks at Toothless with guilt. She grabs his shoulder, getting his attention.
"Don't let their words get into your head. They're just upset with the dragons gone. But if it really bothers you, tell me okay? Keeping all those resentments all to yourself is very bad for your health." Ingrid advises.
"Thanks Ingrid. I will." Hiccup said, grateful.
Satisfied, Ingrid leaned in and gave him a kiss on the cheek. "Good night Hiccup."
"Good night Ingrid." The two share a loving smile before Ingrid turn to go home.
Hiccup looks off into the distance, watching Toothless as he stands on the very same cliff. 'Does he want to fly off himself?' Hiccup frowns, thinking.
Hey Friends!
How do you like the first two chapters? I hope you like it!
I wish peace and joy to your friends and family this coming holiday season!
Love,
J. M. Ortaleza