Disclaimer: I do not own anything from How to train your dragons
Everybody has lost something they thought they couldn't live without. Sometimes to find it again you have to be willing to do anything. Even look fear right in the eye. Just make sure you don't blink.
At Stoicks' orders he, Gobber, Hicca and Hiccup were on Thornado, Midnight and Toothless searching for Trader Johann. Stoick made it clear that it was important that they find him, although he wouldn't say why.
"Where is he? He's been late before, but never this late." Stoick muttered, looking around the ocean for the well-known trader.
"Are you sure Trader Johann even has it?" Gobber asked, the only one who knows why they are looking for him.
"I'm sure!" Stoick said firmly."I heard from Jorgensen, who heard from Stevenson the Shepard who told that Toldstad the Fisherman who said he saw Johann put it on his boat himself."
"Well, it can't possibly get any clearer than that." Gobber said sarcastically.
"Yep, nothing is clearer than an indirect line of gossip." Hicca added with equal sarcasm.
"You know, it might help if Hicca and I actually knew what we are supposed to look out for." Hiccup spoke up.
But the chief was adamant about his children not knowing what they were looking for. "We're looking for Johann. That's all you two need to know."
"Not to worry, old friend. It'll arrive safely and in good time." Gobber said reassuringly.
Noticing the distress look in their dads' face, Hiccup and Hicca shared a look.
"You thinking what I'm thinking, bro?" Hicca asked in a low voice so that neither their father nor Gobber would hear.
Hiccup nodded. "Yep. The four of us are going on a little field trip." He said to his sister and their dragons.
After an unsuccessful search for the trader, they all went back to Berk. Stoick went to attend to his chiefly duties while Gobber went to work at the forge. Meanwhile Hicca and Hiccup were stocking up on their 'field trip'. As soon as they got their supplies, they went back to the Academy. They decided to go by themselves without the other dragon riders.
"Got the map, sis?" Hiccup asked.
"Right here." Hicca answered, holding up the map for her brother to see.
"Okeydokey." Hiccup said looking at the map."We'll start in the west islands and work our way back."
"Back from where?" Astrid asked as she and Stormfly came into the Academy.
"Ah, jus-just a quick spin around the island." Hiccup lied nervously.
"Yeah, you know the usual, everyday thing we do." Hicca added.
Astrid raised her eyebrows at them, not believing a word they're saying. She then inspected their inventory. "Uh-huh. Quick spin, huh? So for this "quick spin" you guys decided to pack enough food that could feed Snotlouts' family?" Astrid asked, holding up a salmon.
"Did I hear my name?" Snotlout asked walking in."Oooh! Do I see a salmon?" Snotlout snatched the salmon from Astrids' hand.
Seeing no way out of this, Hiccup decided to tell them the truth. "Uh... Alright. Look. If you must know..."
"And we must..." Astrid said
"Hmmm, hmmm." Snotlout agreed as he ate the fish.
"We're going to do something for our father." Hiccup explained. The look on Astrids' face said that he needed to explain more."Okay. Okay. Trader Johann is bringing something for him, something important and he should have been here by now."
"You're not trading this fish, are you?" Snotlout asked, holding up the fish."Because it's delicious!Hey!" Hookfang snatched the salmon from Snotlout and ate it. Annoyed, Snotlout snapped his fingers, commanding his dragon to give the salmon back. Reluctantly, Hookfang gave the salmon back in his humans' hand and Snotlout continued to eat it, to the others' disgust.
'I am so going to eat your dinner again, tonight.'Hookfang said in his dragon language. Too bad Snotlout didn't know dragonese...
"You know that can be bad for your stomach, right?" Hicca asked, referring to the regurgitated salmon. Snotlout just gave a shrug in response.
"When do we leave?" Astrid asked.
"Hiccup and Iwere just getting our supplies ready and the two of us along with Toothless and Midnight were going to leave." Hicca answered.
"Yeah, Hicca and I need to go alone. If we all disappear, our dad will get suspicious." Hiccup explained.
"Go alone? You two without us?" Snotlout asked dubiously."Ha, ha! Like you two could handle anything if we weren't there to bail you-" He started choking when he accidently swallowed a bone."Ugh... Help!"
"Put some pressure on his stomach, it will help." Hicca advised.
"Got it." Astrid said. She gave a strong punch to Snotlouts' stomach, causing the Jorgenson boy to cough up the bone.
"Out..." Snotlout wheezed.
"Yeah, I think it's the other way around. For you at least." Hicca said.
Hiccup sighed, knowing his friends were going to be persistent in coming with them. "Alright, fine... You two can come, but that's it. Don't even tell the others. Heed my warning. I am serious."
Five minutes later
Hiccup was flying on Toothless, with an annoyed expression.
"Hey, Hiccup, Snotlout told us there'll be salmon. And I love lox." Tuffnut called as he and his sister rode on Barf and Belch.
Yep, it seemed that someone (*cough* *cough* Snotlout) didn't really take Hiccups' warning seriously and told Fishlegs, Raeda, Ruffnut and Tuffnut.
"I'm pretty sure I said 'Don't tell the others'." Hiccup reminded Snotlout.
"And I'm pretty sure I didn't listen to you." Snotlout retorted.
"You do you realize, Hiccup, that even if Snotlout didn't tell us, the moment I'll notice you guys were missing I would go look for you. I'm not one to miss out on the action." Raeda said. Both Hiccup and Hicca couldn't help but agree to that. They wouldn't be surprised if she actually did manage to find them.
"Hiccup, aren't you always saying it's better when we work as a team?" Fishlegs pointed out.
"See, bro? This is what happens when you offer words of wisdom; it get's thrown back in your face." Hicca said.
"I can see that... Next time I say that, just slap me in the face." Hiccup requested, rolling his eyes.
"I'll do it right now." Ruffnut offered, holding up her hand.
"She will. And she slaps like a guy." Tuffnut informed them."It's awesome! Watch!" To demonstrate, Ruffnut slapped her brother."Yeah..."
Astrid spotted something floating in the ocean. "Hey! Look!"
"I can't see anything through the tears." Tuffnut commented, still relishing in the slap.
Hiccup saw what, or who, Astrid was pointing at. "Is that... Johann?" Sure enough, there was Trader Johann floating on a large piece of wood.
"I thought he had a bigger boat than that." Snotlout said.
"Come on, gang. Let's check that out!" Hiccup ordered.
They rescued Trader Johann from the ocean and settled at the nearest island so that Hicca could examine him. "The fog... The fog..." Trader Johann muttered.
"I think he's still in shock." Hicca said finishing her examination.
"Johann, where is your ship?" Hiccup asked.
"No idea. All I know is, one minute, I was sailing in a perfectly calm sea, the wind at my back, and the next thing I know, my entire ship is pulled out from under me and I'm shark bait." Johann answered.
"I don't understand." Hiccup said.
"I do. I was three days late and trying to make up time and I got too close!" Johann explained.
"Too close to what?" Fishlegs asked.
"Too close to... Breakneck Bog!"
All the teens gasped. "Breakneck Bog..."
"Many a ship has sailed into its waters, few have returned." Fishlegs said, getting frightened.
"My parents told me it's haunted by a Viking from the Hysterics Tribe with a grudge." Raeda said.
"My grandfather has told me it's pirates." Astrid said.
"That's ridiculous!" Snotlout scoffed. "Everyone knows it's haunted by a Fog Monster."
"Fog Monster?!" Fishlegs squeaked.
"Legend says the Fog Monster makes this really creepy moan." Tuffnut said in an ominous voice, creeping up to Fishlegs."Then he surrounds you and scrapes the skin off your bones!"
"AAH!" Fishlegs shrunk in.
Tuffnut continued the story "And then he scrapes the bones off of... whatever is under those."
"And then it drops the bones from the sky." Ruffnut added.
"Yes, yes it's true!" Trader Johann said hurriedly."What he says. It- it... surrounded me!"
"See? Fog Monster!" Snotlout said smugly to Astrid and Raeda."Pirates...Hysterics... ha-ha... stupid grandfather and parents."
"Want to say that to my parents face?" Raeda asked.
Snotlout suddenly became really scared. "No." He said in a quiet voice.
"Johann, we have to find your ship. There's something on it for my father." Hiccup said as his sister nodded in agreement.
"Yes, yes, yes, there was, but it wasn't for your father. It was for you two."
"For us? From who?" Hiccup and Hicca asked.
"He didn't tell either of you? It was from your mother." Johann said.
"Our mother?" Hiccup said, his eyes widening.
"No way." Hicca said in disbelief.
"That's impossible." Astrid agreed.
"What is it?" Hiccup asked, both he and his sister were more curious to know what it is.
"I have no idea, lad." Trader Johann answered."I just know it's in a chest with the Berk crest on it."
"We can't turn back now." Hicca said with determination. "We can't leave without getting that chest."
"I agree with Hicca." Hiccup said with the same determination as his sister. "We have to find it." He turned to Trader Johann."Take us back there. You- you show us where you were when you lost your ship."
But apparently the trader hasn't forgotten about his early fright. "NO! NOOOOOO! I won't! You can't make me! I have a knife in my boot!"He threatened. Ruffnut and Tuffnut looked on with excitement, hoping the man would take the knife out and go crazy, while Raeda got her bow and arrow ready just in case. "I don't have a knife in my boot..." He admitted. The blonde twins' faces fell with disappointment while the raven-haired girl lowered her weapon."But no more fog, please."
"Alright, just tell us how we can find Breakneck Bog." Hiccup compromised.
Trader Johann agreed to it, as long as he doesn't have to go with them. "Head due East. There's a group of islands in the shape of a man's hand. Breakneck Bog is the thumb." He instructed.
"Snotlout, you and the Thorston twins take him back to Berk." Hiccup ordered.
Snotlout was not happy about this. "Back to Berk? With this clown and those clowns?" He exclaimed, gesturing to Johann and the Thorston twins.
"Would you look at him?" Hiccup said, gesturing to Johann."You don't have any choice. And if anything happens, you'll be glad you have them with you."
"He's in a good enough health to be left with you guys." Hicca said.
"Question: What are the rest of us doing?" Fishlegs said nervously, hoping the answer isn't what he thinks it is.
Unfortunately for him, it was. "We're going to Breakneck Bog."
So the team split up, with Snotlout, Ruffnut and Tuffnut taking Trader Johann back to Berk and Hicca, Hiccup, Raeda, Fishlegs and Astrid heading to Breakneck Bog.
Throughout the trip, Fishlegs tried to convince the others to turn back. "What if I gave you guys something from my mother?" He bargained."Or I could give you my mother! You two know you both love her crab cakes!"
"As true as that fact is Fishlegs, we're still not turning back." Hicca said.
Astrid and Raeda decided to scare the poor Ingerman boy. "The fooooog... the foooooooooog..." Astrid said in an ominous voice.
"It will scrape the skin right off your boonnnnes." Raeda said eerily.
"AH! Tears, Astrid and Raeda? Is that what you two want to see?" Fishlegs said, frightened.
Hiccup spotted the Island. "Look! There it is."
"Breakneck Bog." Fishlegs said fearfully.
Meanwhile Snotlout, Johann and the Thorston twins were making their way back to Berk.
"Still waiting on that salmon." Tuffnut said.
'Same here.' Belch said.
"This job is lame." Snotlout complained. He looked behind his shoulder at Johann, who still hasn't gotten over the terror he has been through."And so are you. Stop crying!"
At Breakneck Bog, the five dragon riders and dragons have been walking around the Island, looking for any signs of the boat but not luck. "I don't get it. We flew all around the island. No boat." Hiccup said.
"Not even the remains of a boat." Astrid said.
"You know who would take a boat? A Fog Monster!" Fishlegs said panicking.
"Hang on, Fish. There could other ways for the boat to be missing." Raeda pointed out. "I mean maybe it crashed on the shore and the remains got swept by the sea or something."
"I really hope not." Hicca said.
They were interrupted when all the dragons started growling. "Settle down, bud." Hiccup said to Toothless.
"Sparkfire, what's wrong?" Raeda asked her dragon.
"It's okay, Meatlug. It's okay." Fishlegs soothed the Gronckle.
Suddenly, everyone was quiet when they heard a strange sound in the distance. "What was that?" Astrid asked.
"Only one way to find out." Hiccup answered as he started leading everyone to the direction of the sound.
"Wait a minute! You don't go towards the weird scary sound! It'll only lead to trouble" Fishlegs said nervously.
"You're forgetting something, Fishlegs; we always go to the 'weird scary noise'." Astrid countered.
"That's how we get answers." Raeda agreed.
"I hate that about us." Fishlegs grumbled as he and Meatlug walked to join the others. They continued to walk for a bit, until they found a whole area covered with bones"Agh... Bones... That's just perfect."
The ten of them continued to look around to find any signs of Trader Johanns' boat when something caught Stormflys' attention.
'Watch out!' The blue Nadder immediately grabbed her rider by her tunic and lifted her away from where she was standing, saving Astrid from getting struck by a fallen anchor. "Ah!" She and the others looked up from where it fell from."Wow! Trader Johann's ship!" The five teens were shocked to find that the boat was stick on top of a large tree.
"Found it." Hicca said.
"Wow! He really got off course." Hiccup commented.
"Fog Monster." Fishlegs muttered.
Raeda tilted her head and used her hands to frame the scene before her. "This would be a really great idea for Halloween." (A/N: Do Vikings celebrate Halloween? :P Oh well let's just say they do.)
"Really? You're focusing on that." Fishlegs asked incredulously.
Raeda shrugged. "We're definitely going to go on the boat. Might as well warm up to the idea." She stated.
And she was right because soon enough, the teens got on their dragons and flew to the boat (despite Fishlegs protests, much to the blonde boys' dismay), however the dragons refused to set foot on the boat. Instead they hovered.
"They're afraid. And they're dragons." Fishlegs pointed out."So we should ask ourselves: What are we doing?"
"Come on, Fishlegs. We survived being in a tunnel with a Whispering Death, we can definitely survive this." Hicca said reassuringly.
"That boat's not gonna hold them." Hiccup said, referring to the dragons."We have to jump down and send the dragons below."
"Great. That's just perfect." Fishlegs muttered. He already didn't like the idea of getting on the boat, but now he had to do it without Meatlug to protect him.
Hiccup, Hicca, Raeda and Astrid jumped off their dragons and landed on the boat with no problem. Fishlegs, however, landed on his back with a thud.
"Toothless, ground." Hiccup ordered. The others gave similar commands to their dragons and all five dragons followed and landed on the ground.
"Stay where you can hear Daddy!" Fishlegs called to Meatlug from the ship.
'I will definitely hear you!' Meatlug replied, although she knew her rider wouldn't understand.
Hiccup started looking around the deck. "Okay, so let's just find this thing and get out of here. We're looking for a chest with the Berk crest on it."
The search was interrupted when a bone fell from the sky. "Huh?! Care to explain that?" Fishlegs asked, starting to get scared.
Before anyone could think of an explanation, a shower of bones poured on them!
"Below deck!" Astrid exclaimed. There were no arguments there as the five teens ran below the deck as fast as they could to avoid the raining bones. As soon as they got there, the bones stopped pouring down.
Hiccup tried to get the others calm and positive. "Ah, it's just a little... bone-shower. And it passed."
"Bone-shower... So I'm the only one who thinks that's weird?" Fishlegs asked.
Astrid, Raeda and Hicca raised their hands to agree with Fishlegs.
"Okay... It's a little weird." Hiccup said.
"'A little weird?'" Hicca asked incredulously. "Understatement of the year, bro."
The teens were silent when they scraping sounds from above the deck. "That is also weird." Fishlegs whispered.
"Okay, let's just start looking for the chest and quickly." Hiccup said."That really doesn't sound like friendly scraping."
"Is there evena such thing as 'friendly scraping'" Hicca asked. Her brother just shrugged. "But I agree with you, the sooner we find that chest the sooner we can get out of here."
"No rush, I'm getting a lot of inspiration for the 'haunted ship' for Halloween. I also got a good back-story forming in my head." Raeda said happily.
"I'm definitely won't be going on that boat." Fishlegs stated, shuddering as he knew how well Raeda can make something look very scary with her creativity and artistic skill.
The five teens split up and checked every corner of the ship looking for the chest. It went peacefully, until Fishlegs felt something on his shoulder. Gulping, the scared Ingerman boy slowly turned around to find a skeletal hand touching his shoulder through a crack at the wall!
"AAAAAHHHHAAAAAAAHHH!"
Hicca looked around one corner of the ship when her eyes spotted a lone chest resting on top of a crate. On further inspection, her eyes widened when she saw a very familiar crest on it.
"Hiccup!" She called. Her brother came running to her and she pointed to the chest.
Hiccup smiled at the sight. "We found it." He said.
"Yeah, we did." Hicca said happily.
Hiccup took the chest in his arms. "What do you think it could be?"
"I don't know but what I do know is that we're definitely keeping this safe in our house where it belongs. Mom would have been really happy, that we found it."
"Yeah, she would have." Hiccup agreed with a smile. He put an arm around his sisters' shoulders, giving her a hug which Hicca returned. Their mom died when Hiccup and Hicca were babies so they didn't have many memories of their mother to remember her by. So whatever they have that was from her, they treasured it. And the contents in the chest would be added to that.
A familiar scream caused the auburn-haired twins to look up and see Fishlegs running towards them in fright. Raeda and Astrid were right behind him.
"Fishlegs, we found it!" Hiccup informed him, holding up the chest.
"We can get out of here." Hicca added.
"Oh, oh, thank Thor!" Fishlegs said, relieved."There was a hand, no skin, all scraped off." He tried to explain, but was cut off by a louder scraping sound from above.
"It's coming after us!" Astrid exclaimed.
Clutching the chest close, Hiccup looked around hoping to find a way out. He found a nearby closet. "Hide! In there!" Hiccup, Hicca, Astrid and Fishlegs ran to the closet, but Raeda stood her ground. Getting her bow and arrows ready, the Henderson girl was ready to confront whatever was the cause of this until Hicca and Hiccup pulled her to the closet.
"Too risky, Rae. We have no idea if there is actually a person behind this." Hiccup whispered.
"I don't want to believe it either, but the idea of the fog monster is becoming more and more viable." Hicca said.
Agreeing with them, Raeda went with her best human friends and hid with Astrid and Fishlegs in the closet. She still kept her bow and arrow ready just in case it was actually a person behind this.
"Nobody... breathe." Hiccup instructed the others while keeping a firm hold to the chest. They heard footsteps getting closer and closer to the closet and the jingle on the doorknob indicated that someone was trying to open it!
"I just want you to know, I love you guys." Fishlegs whispered to the other four.
The door flung open and the five teens screamed. Panicking, Raeda shot an arrow, not even bothering to check her aim which resulted in the arrow hitting the ceiling.
Once the teens calmed down, they saw some familiar faces.
"Hey, guys! Need a haaaaaaaand?" Tuffnut mocked, holding up the skeletal hand.
Being the first one to recover from the fright, Astrid tackled Tuffnut to the ground and started hitting him repeatedly with the skeletal arm in a fit of rage.
"YEOUCH! OW! AUGH! Ruffnut! Do! Something!" Tuffnut pleaded through the numerous hits he's been receiving from the enraged shield maiden. Ruffnut decided to take the arm fromAstrid...only to continue hitting her brother with it. "YOUCH! OW! AUGH!"
After being able to collect himself, Hiccup decided to step in. "Alright, alright. Break it up, you guys."
Ruffnut stopped hitting her brother, but Astrid took the skeletal arm back and decided to get a few more hits in. "Ouch! Ow-ow! YEOUCH! Uuuuuuugh..."
"So let me get this straight." Hiccup said, pinching the bridge of his nose."This was all you. The bones, the scraping?"
"That's right." Snotlout said proudly."And this was all you: 'Ooh! Ah! Eek!'" He mocked in a high-pitched voice.
"Actually, most of that was me." Fishlegs admitted.
"Oh, gods... Why-why would you do that?" Hiccup asked Snotlout."What were you thinking?!"
"That this would be the perfect payback for sticking me with Trader Johann." His cousin answered.
Hiccup then noticed that the trader wasn't with them. "Speaking of Trader Johann, where is he?"
"Don't worry about him. He's fine." Snotlout said, waving it off.
"Somehow, I doubt that." Hicca said.
And she was right, because it turns out that Snotlout and the blonde twins left Trader Johann on a lone sea-stack in the middle of the ocean.
"Just so you know, I'm not going to forget this." Astrid said to Snotlout before punching him.
Hicca noticed that Raeda wasn't saying anything. "You seem awfully calm about this, Rae."
"I am, Hicca, and for two reasons." Raeda said. "One: this whole thing is pure haunted ship gold and two: my revenge on these three will be so much better."
The three guilty teens gulped. If it was one thing Raeda could do well besides art and archery, it was pranks. They better watch out.
Astrid then noticed that Snotlout was wearing a big, gold necklace around his neck. "And what's with that stupid necklace?"
"Like it?" Snotlout asked, holding the necklace up."Yeah. Just a little something I found on deck. I can grab one for you if you want." Astrid just rolled her eyes at him.
Before anyone could say anything else, the boat started rocking back and forth. It then fell out of the tree and crashed onto the ground!
"Everybody okay?" Hiccup asked getting up, still holding the chest.
"If by 'okay' you mean 'still alive' then yes, we are." Hicca replied.
To add to the fright, fog started coming through the crack of the walls!"RUUUUUUN!" Hiccup yelled. The teens didn't need to be told twice as they ran to the stairs. Before anyone could climb up, however, the fog blocked their path!
"Just so you know, this fog, not us." Snotlout said, getting scared.
"I was hoping you would say it was you." Hicca said.
"Okay, I'll admit. Starting to come around on the 'Fog Monster' theory." Hiccup admitted.
The fog covered the entire lower deck, surrounding the teens in darkness. "AAAAAAAAAAHHHHH!"
After what felt like hours for the teens, the fog finally cleared up.
Fishlegs found himself on Snotlouts' shoulders. "Hi." Snotlout scowled at him and threw him back.
"We're alive!" Ruffnut exclaimed, getting up."Right?" Tuffnut shoved her off."Ow!"
"Can we please just get out of here?" Astrid pleaded, not wanting the fog to come back.
"I second that." Raeda agreed.
Hiccup looked at his arms and noticed something "Wait! The chest! I- It- It's gone! I just had it."
"What?! That's impossible! You just had it!" Hicca said.
"Oh, too bad, so sad. See you back on Berk!" Tuffnut said frantically as he, Ruffnut, Snotlout and Fishlegs ran outside the boat to where the dragons were.
"Meatlug! Oh I missed you, Meatlug." Fishlegs said as he hugged the Gronckle."Don't worry, Daddy's taking you home." He turned behind his shoulders. "Raeda, let me know when you make that haunted boat so that I will be sure to avoid it."
Astrid, Raeda, Hicca and Hiccup were still on the boat. "You guys go. Hicca and I have to find that chest." Hiccup insisted.
"Also cover for us." Hicca added.
"No way guys, we'restaying here to help you two find that chest." Raeda said firmly.
"You four do what you guys gotta do. See you when we see you." Snotlout said quickly.
"Hold on, you guys. That chest is from their mom." Astrid said to the four leaving teens.
Tuffnut waved it off. "Yeah. Touching story. Gotta go!"
"Put yourself in their shoes." Astrid said.
"In Hiccups' case: Shoe." Snotlout said.
"What if it was your mother?"
That made the four teens stop. They were lucky enough to be able to grow up with their mothers to take care of them. But for Hicca and Hiccup, it wasn't like that. Those two didn't even know what their mom looks like. So reluctantly, the four teens got off their dragons and rejoined the other half of their team.
"I hate you." Snotlout said to Astrid. He then turned to his cousins "And this does not mean we're really friends."
"It means a lot to us that you guys are helping." Hicca said gratefully.
"Yeah thank you, guys. We mean it." Hiccup agreed."Now let's go find that Fog Monster."
The teens saddled up and took to the skies looking for the Fog Monster.
Astrid found it. "There it is!"
Strangely the fog seemed to move as if it had a mind of its own as it constantly changed direction.
"Is it just me or does fog not move like this at all?" Hiccup asked, baffled by the fog.
"Yeah, I don't think that's actually a fog." Hicca said.
Then, to add more weirdness, the 'fog' suddenly split into two! "There's two of them!" Snotlout exclaimed.
"Astrid! Raeda!" Hiccup shouted.
"On it!" Both girls answered as they started chasing one part of the 'fog' while Hiccup and Hicca started chasing the other. But as persistent as they were, they soon lost any traces of the 'fog'. They quickly regrouped with the others on the ground.
"We lost it." Hiccup said as they got off their dragons.
"So did we." Astrid reported.
Then the fog came back again!
"It didn't lose us." Tuffnut gulped.
As the fog accumulated, the dragons suddenly noticed something their riders didn't.
'Do you guys see what I see?' Midnight said to the other dragons.
'Yep, no doubt about it. I should've guessed it from the start.' Sparkfire answered
'Now I wish we were dealing with an actual fog monster. These things are annoying.' Hookfang grumbled.
Toothless started growling at the fog. "Settle down, bud."
The other dragons started flying up. "What are they doing?" Ruffnut asked.
"They're leaving us." Tuffnut said.
"I knew Hookfang never liked me." Snotlout said dejectedly.
"Midnight, where are you guys going?" Hicca asked. But the female Night Fury simply joined the others in the air.
Hiccup noticed that none of the dragons were flying away. In fact, they were flapping their wings at the fog. "They're not going anywhere. Look!" The flapping caused the fog to clear up, revealing many small dragons!
"They're dragons!" Astrid said.
"Yeah, angry ones." Snotlout noted, looking at their expressions.
"Well, look on the bright side, Fishlegs." Hiccup commented."No Fog Monster."
"I feel so much better now." Fishlegs mumbled.
"What are those things?" Ruffnut asked.
"They're like smokey dragon-pirates without the eye-patches." Tuffnut answered.
It was Fishlegs who came up with the answer. "They're Smothering Smokebreath dragons." The other teens gave him incredulous looks."What?"
"You knew about these things?" Snotlout asked in disbelief.
"And you didn't think at one point it would be a good idea to suggest it?" Hicca asked.
"Well I've read about them, but I didn't think they actually existed." Fishlegs explained.
"Yet, thought a 'Fog Monster' existed?!" Astrid said in exasperation. They've been scared of a make-believe monster this whole time!
"Guys! Can we please talk about this later?" Hiccup asked, reminding everyone of their current situation."What else did the book say?"
Fishlegs immediately went in dragon-analysing mode. "They hide themselves in a veil of smoke, they're very territorial and, uh... I forget the third thing."
"Think you can jog up your memory?" Raeda asked.
At that moment, the Smothering Smokebreaths chose to attack. Hiccup and Hicca quickly got on Toothless and Midnight and the two Night Furies fired plasma blasts at the hostile dragons. The other dragon riders followed suit (though Tuffnut had a bit of a struggle when the Smokebreaths tried to take him) Raeda tried firing some of her arrows at the dragons, but it had no effect as there were too many of them so she got on Sparkfire, who then fired at them. Hiccup looked around and saw that they were surrounded by Smothering Smokebreaths. "There's too many of them! Let's fall back!"
"Um... Fall back where?" Tuffnut asked, pointing out the fact that they were surrounded.
"Give us a fire line!" Hiccup ordered the Thorston twins.
"Don't have to ask us twice." Tuffnut said as he and his sister got on Barf and Belch. The Zippleback immediately gave a line of fire, creating a path for the teens and dragons to escape.
Fishlegs noticed that they were not going to leave the island. In fact, they were following the Smothering Smokebreaths "What are we doing? Why are we still here?"
"Hicca and I can't leave here without that chest." Hiccup explained.
"We came here for that chest and we are not leaving empty-handed." Hicca said with determination.
"You don't even know if they have it!" Snotlout pointed out.
"We have a pretty good idea." Hiccup said as they arrived at a cave."Let's get a closer look." On a closer inspection, the teens noticed that the small dragons were carrying metal to their nests. "Fishlegs? Did you manage to remember the third thing?"
"Unfortunately yes." Fishlegs said, remembering the third thing about Smothering Smokebreaths."That third thing: The Smothering Smokebreaths build their nest out of metallic objects."
"Yeah, we kind of see that." Hicca noted.
"That doesn't sound too cozy." Tuffnut said."Or does it?"
"It's not supposed to be. They do it to defend against attacks by bigger Dragons." Fishlegs stated.
"Inspirations, inspirations. I'm having a field day here." Raeda muttered.
"I wish I could see in there." Hiccup said as they had a stakeout behind a boulder.
"Yeah, you do. He, he, he, he, he." Tuffnut said as he looked at the cave through a spy-glass.
Hiccup turned to the male Thorston and noticed the spyglass. "Where did you get that?"
"Duh. From the ship." Tuffnut answered."Or whatever that was in the tree."
"Tuff, that's stealing." Hicca chided. "You're already on Trader Johanns' bad side for leaving him wherever you guys left him."
Hiccup just snatched the spy-glass and looked through it. "They're melding them all together." He noted. He then spotted the object they were after. "The chest! It's in there!" He exclaimed before he gave the spy-glass to his sister to see."We've get to get them away from that pile of loot."
"Maybe we can lure them away." Astrid suggested.
"With what?" Hiccup asked.
Astrid didn't answer him. Instead she was looking at the Jorgenson boy, who was busy admiring his new necklace. "Shiny. Haha..." He then saw everyone staring at him."What?"
They have their bait.
After an intense argument, a reluctant Snotlout was standing on top of the boulder holding out his necklace. "Here, dragons! Got something for you. Over here. Come get it." He shouted."I'm gonna make Hiccup and Hicca eat that chest!" He muttered. The distraction worked as the Smothering Smokebreaths came after Snotlout and the necklace!
As soon as the Smokebreaths came out of their cave, Hiccup, Astrid, Hicca and Fishlegs flew in with their dragons while the rest stood guard. "Quickly, quickly! Those things will be done with Snotlout any second now." Hiccup whispered.
"Remember, this is just a get in get out mission. Nothing else needs to be done." Hicca reminded them.
Once they entered the cave, Hiccup started climbing on the nest to where the chest was. Once he got there, he grabbed it and threw it to where his sister was, who caught it easily.
They then heard Snotlouts' voice outside the cave. "Aah... Nice dragons. Aaah! Uh! Watch it! Not there! Hey!"
Fishlegs saw that the Jorgenson boy was being carried by the Smothering Smokebreaths! "Uhm guys! They're coming!"
They tried to make their escape, but were too late as the Smokebreaths had arrived and were not happy to know that their home was being invaded.
"Hiccup! Look out!" Astrid warned. The Smokebreaths started to cover the cave with fog.
"Toothless!" Hiccup yelled. Toothless went to his rider and as soon as Hiccup got on, started flying him towards the exit.
Hicca, Astrid and Fishlegs already made it out and Hiccup was about to join them when he heard his cousins' voice behind him. "Hiccup! Don't leave me! Aah!"
"Great..." Hiccup muttered, remembering that his cousin got captured. He steered Toothless back to the nest."Plasma blast!" Toothless blasted the smaller dragons away from the Jorgenson boy, allowing Snotlout to get on the Night Fury.
"Oh, yeah!" Snotlout yelled as they flew out. But he couldn't celebrate just yet because some of the Smokebreath started following them, mainly after the necklace that Snotlout has yet to let go.
"Snotlout, would you leave the necklace?" Hiccup demanded.
"No! It's my shiny!" His cousin said stubbornly.
"Well, either you let them take you or your shiny." Hiccup yelled, hoping his cousin wouldn't make a stupid decision.
Luckily, Snotlout made the right decision as he took off the necklace and threw at the Smokebreaths who caught. "Hookfang!" He called out, getting the Monstrous Nightmare towards him. He then jumped off Toothless and landed on Hookfang.
The riders started to fly out of the Island, but they noticed that the Smothering Smokebreaths were still following them.
Astrid then got an idea "Anything you have that's metal, throw it at them!"
Without any arguments, all eight dragon riders threw out any metallic objects they had and threw it at the fog-covered dragons. It worked as the fog slowly started to disappear until the last of the Smokebreaths left the teens alone.
"We did it!" Snotlout yelled pumping his fist in the air.
But none of the teens realised that they forgot one piece of metal.
Hiccups' prosthetic foot.
One of the Smokebreaths grabbed onto Hiccups' leg and yanked it out of the stirrup sending it, Hiccup and Toothless into a dangerous nosedive!
"Hiccup!" Hicca and Astrid yelled.
"WAAAAAAAHHHH!" Hiccup screamed as he struggled to get rid of the Smokebreath to get his foot back into the stirrup.
To everyones' surprise, it was Fishlegs who boldly rammed himself and Meatlug into the Smokebreath, causing the smaller dragon to let go and fly away.
"You will NOT haunt my dreams!" Fishlegs yelled to the retreating dragon. He then muttered to himself."Because I'll never sleep again..."
So with the chest now safe and secure and the threat of the Smothering Smokebreaths gone, the teens and dragons were finally able return to Berk. Once they came back, they went to Stoick to tell him what happened. Although Stoick was happy to hear that everyone is okay and the chest has been found, he was not happy when he found out what happened to Johann. He had Snotlout and the Thorston twins go back to get Trader Johann and his damaged boat.
"Alright, Alright. That's it. A little to the left!" Stoick directed the three teens as they used their dragons to carry the boat to the docks.
"We're going to have to clear the forest to fix that boat." Gobber remarked, assessing the damages on the boat.
"We're glad you're safe, Johann." Stoick said to the trader who was standing next to him."Is there anything else we can do for you?"
"Yeeeees! Just give me five minutes alone with the three who dropped me back in the ocean!" Johan said angrily, pointing to Snotlout, Ruffnut and Tuffnut. Clearly, he hasn't forgiven them for leaving him stranded.
Later on, at the Haddock household, Hicca, Hiccup and Stoick stood in the living room with the chest. "Go ahead, open it!" Stoick encouraged.
Hiccup and Hicca looked at each other and both of them opened the chest, revealing to small stuffed dragons, both seemed to resemble Deadly Nadders. One toy had Hiccups' name stitched on it, the other one had Hiccas'.
"I remember this." Both Hiccup and Hicca said as they each picked up their own stuffed dragon.
"Aye. You two should. Your mother made those for both of you, when you were babies." Stoick explained. He then chuckled."It scared you both half to death. Neither of you slept for a week."
The twins were surprised to hear this. "You're kidding, right?" Hicca asked.
"We were afraid of dragons?" Hiccup asked.
"Oh, terrified! One day, we were out fishing and both of you threw those things into the sea."
"How did you find them?" Hiccup asked.
"Well, it showed up in a fishing net. Trader Johann got it in trade and contacted me." Stoick answered.
"That was so lucky." Hicca commented as she cradled her stuff dragon.
Hiccup looked at his toy. "We were so little when Mom... You know... we were starting to get afraid that we'd forget her. But now... I love it."
"Our memory of her is definitely going to be engraved in our minds for a long, long time." Hicca agreed
"Oh, Hiccup...Hicca... It would make your mother very, very happy to finally hear that." Stoick said smiling.
Most people are afraid of things because they don't understand them.
Both Hiccup and Hicca placed their stuffed dragons on their own beds' headboard. Hiccup then joined his sister in her room.
"Mom would have been really proud of us." Hicca said as she gave Midnight a nice, good scratch.
"Yeah she would have been. Do you she would have been open-minded about the idea of training dragons in the beginning?" Hiccup asked.
Hicca shrugged. "Probably. After all, we had to have gotten that trait from someone."
Toothless and Midnight started nudging their riders and gestured to the window, indicating that they wanted to go for a flight.
The twins exchanged a look and smiled. They both got on their dragons and flew out, ready for another crazy, exhilarating flight.
For me and my sister, it was dragons. Then one day, that changed and our greatest fear became our best friends.