𖣯 ✹ 🌷(makligr) ꏍ ！┈─❟
╰───►chapter four; hiccup
❝ yakrats! ❞

     "RUUUUUUUUUNNNNNNNNN!"

      Hiccup could explain how he got into this predicament: running for his life with Snotlout from some very angry boars, but that was a really (and he means really) long story. And it was most definitely his cousin's fault. The stump of his limb throbbed uncomfortably (but something he was used to by now) as he ran as fast as he could across the simple, plain landscape among only a few trees. Their dragons should be this way━Hiccup thinks? It's not his fault, okay? All the trees look the same on this island! And he was sure they've been running in circles from these very angry boars.

     Snotlout raced beside him, heaving and his face flustered with effort. "I HATE YOUUUU!" He screamed as he did so.

     Hiccup rolled his eyes, trying to keep his breathing steady and his pace fast.

     But Snotlout wasn't finished. "'Let's explore the island on foot'," he mimicked; nazal, high-pitched━a horrible impersonation of Hiccup, really. "'Rest the dragons for a long tip home. I'm a mutton-head!'"

     They skidded along a set of rocks only for Hiccup to yell in alarm and throw his hands out. Snotlout slammed right into his arm, almost sending the two of them over the edge of the cliff and into the deep water over twenty feet below.

     Hiccup spun around, eyes wide to see the boars gaining very fast. Snotlout threw his hands up, furious. "Okay, genius!" he snapped. "What's our next move?"

     He was out of ideas. He looked around, desperate. "Ah━argh━weapons!" he exclaimed, still searching as the boars slowed down, coming up to them and knowing they had nowhere to go. Their long tusks frothed with saliva, eager for a good mauling. "W━we need weapons..."

     He expected Snotlout to ask something like, "What?" when Hiccup felt a tug on his metal leg. He stumbled, very confused. Hiccup hopped on the stone, trying to figure out what was happening until he saw Snotlout tugging desperately at his prosthetic. "Got one!" he cried.

     "Wha━?!" Hiccup struggled, trying to push him away at the shoulders, "Snotlout! Let go!" He hit him a few times on the helmet.

     "What?! I call dibs!" He tugged harsher. "GIMME!"

     "Get off me!"

     They went back and forth, wrestling, shoving, pushing. Hiccup grunted as Snotlout's other hand tried to push him away by the cheek. The boars faltered, very startled at the scene. The cousins fought, completely forgetting why they needed a weapon in the first place.

     But Yrsa and Toothless came to their rescue. Riding Hiccup's dragon, she frowned at them, disappointed as Toothless scared the boars away with a plasma blast. Hiccup gave her his best sheepish smile, shoving Snotlout off finally. She scowled, but not surprised.

     Getting his dragon back and taking to the air with the others away from Boar Island, Hiccup sighed, slumping forward a little, "Okay, so check that island off the list."

     "What's wrong with boars?" frowned Tuffnut, steering Belch in close next to Hiccup. "More boars the ... uh ... boarier."

     He arched a brow, unimpressed. To his left, Yrsa rolled her eyes. "Don't you mean the merrier?"

    "Ha!" Tuff pointed a finger at her. "So you agree! I say we go back━"

    "No!"

     "Whoo━hoo━hoo!" giggled Fishlegs, soaring down past the group of them on Meatlug. "This is so exciting! Searching the high seas for an island outpost to call our own."

     "Yeah, I like this idea," said Ruffnut, leaning back in her saddle with her arms perched behind her head. "Move away from Berk, get my own place, away from you-know-who━" she sent her brother a side glance.

     It flew right over his head, "Yeah, you're telling me, sister," scoffed Tuff. "I am so sick of you-know-who. He never knows when to shut up. I want him out of here."

     "Me too," muttered Astrid, rolling her eyes at the Twins.

     "Guys, let's focus," Hiccup held out a hand towards them from his leading position of the formation. "We need to find an island that's face, secure and habitable for both us and the dragons."

     "Blah, blah, blah━" mocked Snotlout. "How many times do we have to hear that?"

     Hiccup sent him a scowl, still annoyed from earlier. "Until we find what we're looking for." In the distance, a patch of green surrounded by cliffs started to show through the horizon. "Let's check this one out━"

     The island was okay; filled with streams and foot, until Yrsa pointed out the patches of Blue Oleander━so that island was a big, steaming, fat no.

     The next one they found, Fishlegs had declared so beautiful they had no other choice but to check it out. Diving down through the cloud bank, Hicup frowned at the holes dotted all over the island━

     He glanced, "Those aren't dots! They're Whispering Death holes!"

     "Yeah," Snotlout shot Hookfang back into the sky, and the rest of them followed with no hesitation, "been there, done that."

     By accident, they doubled back and had another run of Boar Island. They returned to the air, all of their tail bones bruised from jumping off the cliffs and having to have their dragons catch them below.

     Fishlegs winced, "My bad. Should've crossed this island off the list."

     Yrsa sent him a glare through her messy hair━twigs and leaves stuck all over the place. "Oh, really?" she grumbled.

     The flight to the next island was enough time for her to fix her hair; taking it out and redoing the braids. Hiccup tried not to watch her, feeling his cheeks heat up to see the dark strands fly behind her in the wind. Toothless realised and gave him a huff.

      Hiccup jumped, realising he had been staring. He glowered down at the dragon, "Don't you start."

     Toothless laughed in the back of his throat.

      The island they came across was fairly good in size, with the tips of the centre mountain capped with snow and ice. The cliffs made it easily defendable, and the mainland held fresh streams and vegetation for foot and water━and no sight of Whispering Death holes or Blue Oleander (or boars) anywhere. It was quite beautiful━if Hiccup said so himself. The scenery was gorgeous in its slopes and forests extending out in all directions, a lagoon at the edge, coves and mountains wrapping around the centre peak━it must've been a volcano once, for its tip divulged away into a hollowed core.

     "It's perfect!" exclaimed Ruff.

     "Yeah," her brother narrowed his eyes. "Too perfect." She arched a brow at him. "I'm just saying, in the immortal words of the mighty Thor━" he puffed out his chest and put on his best regal and 'godly' voice. "'When something looks too perfect, it probably sucks'."

     Hiccup stared at him, dubious. "Yeah, I'm pretty sure Thor never said anything remotely like that."

     "Oh, really?" Tuff crossed his arms. "How do you know? Do you know Thor? Have you talked to him recently?"

      "No, but━"

     "Well, because I have, mm━hmm. And I don't recall him mentioning you." Hiccup sighed, but just let him be. "Look, I just have a feeling about this place, and I think we all know what happens when I get a feeling."

     "We ignore it?" offered Yrsa and Hiccup tried to hide his amused smile. They dove down towards the island.

◞ ★ ꒱꒱◜

     "OKAY, first thing we need to do is set up camp for the night," announced Hiccup, fixing his saddle bag. He didn't notice none of his team were listening. "We need dry wood for fire, we need fresh water, and we need someone on traps."

      He heard Yrsa scoff, "Snotlout, what is that?"

     Hiccup frowned and glanced over. His shoulders fell and he sighed to see them all standing around in a circle, glaring at the dirt and grass. Snotlout held a stick and drew something for them all to see. "It's an 'S'," he stated, "for 'Snotlout. I think aesthetically it would look nice flying over."

     "Yeah," agreed Yrsa sarcastically, "maybe━but I think it should stand for Snotface Stupid." she snatched the stick from him while he was distracted in being offended to rub out his drawing and scribble something else. "Look━it doesn't matter what the outpost looks like━" Hiccup tried to peer over their shoulders, frowning, "━it needs to be functional and operational."

     "Uh, guys," Hiccup called over their shoulders, "what we really need is━"

     "Is a place for rest, relaxation and replenishing after a hard day's work," Fishlegs nodded at him and Hiccup's face fell, realising this was not heading the way he wanted. "You're absolutely right, Hiccup. Look, Meatlug and I had some thoughts━" he pulled out a full finished design on his shield. Hiccup stared, incredulous (when did he find the time?).

     Astrid propped her hand on her hip, pointing at the centre piece, "Is that a hot tub?"

    "No," scoffed Fishlegs, "that's the mud bath. The hot tub is over there."

     Hiccup stood back next to Toothless, frustrated. His dragon huffed beside him and he muttered, "Tell me about it."

     "Fishlegs, you can't have any of this," scolded Astrid. "We need the upmost neccessities━sentries, a training ground, stables," she counted them on her fingers and Yrsa nodded, agreeing.

     "Wait a minute━everyone stop!" Tuff cried, outraged by Fishlegs's design. "I don't see it!"

     His sister met his estranged distress. Hiccup arched a brow and limped over to them, curious as she mumbled, "Me, neither."

     "See what?" he asked, stepping in between them.

     "Um, the boar pit!" Tuff started to hyperventilate. His sister fanned him to keep him calm. "Where is it? Where is the boar pit?!"

     "You see," Ruff was very unbothered by her brother's dramatics, continuing to fan him as he took deep breaths, "the centrepiece of any good outpost is a boar pit." Toothless joined them, ears quivering in interest.

     Hiccup didn't see how that was a good centrepiece. Neither did the others. They all frowned at the Twins. "Why?" demanded Astrid.

     Tuff immediately stopped his deep breaths to look at her dead straight in her blue gaze. He muttered evilly: "Everybody needs a little entertainment now and then, don't they?"

     Astrid blinked, weirded-out.

     "Well," piped up an uncertain Fishlegs, "we do know where to get boars."

    Hiccup had had enough. With a hand singal, Toohless blasted Yrsa and Snotlout's drawing, gaining everyone's attention. Yrsa gaped at him, furious, but he wasn't scared of her━even though he was sure to be attacked sooner or later. "Oops," he just said, shrugging, "sorry about that." She glowered. "Okay, so, now that we have your attention, we really need to set up camp for the night."

    Tuff prused his lips, "Wait, what about the━"

     "Ah━dah━da━dah!" Hiccup shook a finger at him, shutting him up. Tuffnut's eyes widened, taken aback. "We'll talk about the dragon outpost design in the morning. For now, someone needs to get the water!"

     "Urgh!" Snotlout rolled his eyes, muttering to Astrid and Yrsa beside him. "I don't know about you, but I like whiney Berk Hiccup way better than Princess Outpost Hiccup."

     "I know right," agreed Astrid, shuffling off with him. She sent Hiccup a thumbs up behind Snotlout's back.

     Walking up to Hiccup, Yrsa punched him right across the shoulder. He let out an, "Ow!" clutching his arm. Seeing her scowl, he rolled his eyes, "Yeah, yeah, I get it. Now, you want to go gather some dry wood with us?" He propped his hands on his hips and Toothless copied his stance to the tier.

      She continued to glare at him, dark eyes trying to intimidate him. Hiccup matched it with one of his own. In the end, she gave up. His eyes widened slightly when he thought he caught a blush trace her cheeks. "Whatever," she grumbled, straightening her back. She walked past Toothless and his gaze followed her, purring in curiositity. "Come on, bud━Helrose!"

      Hiccup watched her lead the way to the woods, a little startled. He shared a quick glance with Toothless before following.

     They set up camp by the nearest stream, circling around the fire with their dragons curling up beside them. Yrsa was snuggled up already between Helrose and Toothless, her favourite place. Hiccup settled himself against Toothless beside her, watching the flames flicker as he thought about the outpost and how he'll handle everyone's ideas. The hardest thing about being the leader of this team was how they never agreed━on anything. They were great when he needed them, but in small situations like this, they nagged, and argued, and went against each other just for the sake of it. Especially Yrsa. And she always expected him to argee with her on it. Most of the time, he did, but whenever he didn't, she got upset. Of course, she was a lot better than she used to be, but it still made him a little tense. Sometimes she didn't know how to take constructive criticism━at all. She'd begin to think everyone was turning against her again. Given her past, Hiccup could understand it, but it didn't stop him from trying to tell her that there was a difference between insults and criticism; one meant what she thought (kind of...), the other didn't. And then there was Snotlout and the Twins━now that was a whole other stressful situation in itself. And Astrid ... yet again, another stressful category. Even Fishlegs made him want to tug at his hair sometimes. Put him and Snotlout together in decision making, and suddenly it was a competiton where Fishlegs was determined to be the best. In everything.

      He let his head fall back against Toothless's side, staring up at the stars. Worry about it in the morning, he decided.

      Despite his thoughts, Hiccup's gaze drifted over to where Yrsa was squished between the two dragons━she was the favourite. Always has been. Toothless adored her and so did Helrose and Hiccup was the one stuck outside. They never squished him like that. He was either pushed out of the way by the end of the night, or kicked awake by accident. As if knowing exactly what he was thinking, Yrsa looked over and smirked, smug.

     But then, Toothless woke up; his head perked up and Yrsa sat up, frowning as he growled in the distance. Hiccup glanced over, "What is it, bud?" he asked.

      "I tell you what it is," said Tuff from his sister's side. "Rats━" he held out his hands as if to try and spook them. "Rats the size of yaks." Ruff arched a brow at him. "No," he shook his head, thinking to himself, "it could also━is it yaks the size of rats? Yakrats━" he laughed. "Wait, no, those would be adorable. No, no━" he pointed his finger at them all. Astrid sighed, rolling her eyes, "━I know what it is. It's yaks the size of dragons. Right, Toothless?" he turned to the Night Fury, and the dragon just slumped back into his slumber. "You feel me, 'T'?"

       Fishlegs laughed. "There's no such things as yaks the size of dragons," he snickered with Astrid━Tuffnut appeared behind them, scaring them with a start.

     "Yakdragons to you, my friend!" said the younger Thorston Twin. Astrid glared, angry that he startled her. "And when you've heard their cries, you'll believe me. Trust me. Mm━hmm━" cupping his hands to his cheeks, Tuffnut cried into the dark with a sound that made them all cover their ears━ "Rakay━ya━na━na━nah━oooohhhhhh!" Tuff dropped his hands and added a quiter, "Papoo!"

     Hiccup just tried to close his eyes, ignoring it all.

     "That's right," added Tuffnut, looking each of them dead in the eye. "Let that roll around in your head for a minute."

     "All right, Tuffnut," Hiccup peeked an eye open, "knock it off."

     "Yeah!" added Snotlout, crossing his arms, "you're not scaring anyone."

     In passing, Tuffnut stopped and leered right into his face. Snotlout yelped with surprise. "Really? What if there were ... uh ..." he tried to think of something else, "━oh! Snakes━what if there were snakes out there in the dark? Hmm? Giant snakes? Snakes big enough to swallow a man whole and then barf out his bones? BLAGH!" he waved his hands menacingly in Snotlout's face, and he let out a nervous chuckle as Tuff walked away.

     "Ha! Please," he waved it off. "Barfing out bones━" Snotlout's facade fell away and he reached for Hookfang's wing, pulling it close over him. Yrsa and Astrid stared at him, incredulous. "What?" he frowned at them.

     "Yeah, that's right," Tuff grinned, sitting back down, "go to bed. Sleep ... if you can." He set his head against Belch's saddle, muttering as he dozed off. "Trolls ... demon toads..."

      Hiccup sighed and just closed his eyes, happy for the sleep that overtook him.

◞ ★ ꒱꒱◜

THEY were all woken up by Tuffnut's screams.

Hiccup sprung to life, knocking Toothless awake by accident. His dragon shot up, yelping with surprise that smacked Yrsa out of her slumber, and in following, Helrose. It took a moment for the two girls to come to focus, but as soon as they did, their fury was matched. "TUFF!" snapped Yrsa.

"What?! What?! What?!" grumbled Snotlout as he woken from his sleep, wiping drool from his mouth. Astrid was on her feet in seconds, holding up her axe with a crazed look in her eyes. Hiccup and his team of Dragon Riders all pushed themselves to their feet, frowning at Tuffnut who came sprinting out of the brush, screaming at the top of his lungs.

Hiccup sighed, but made his way over with a great big yawn. Can't he ever just get a full-night's sleep? Tuff heaved, doubled over to catch his breath. "Chicken!" he cried, flailing his arms at them. Hiccup slumped: was this seriously just another attempt to scare them? Can Toothless just gently shoot Tuffnut ... please? "Roaring! Roaring huge chicken! Chicken roar!"

Fishlegs arched a dubious brow and leaned in towards Snotlout to mutter, "Is he saying he saw a big, roaring chicken?"

Tuffnut took a deep breath, wheezing, "Not a chicken," he said. "Dragon! Huge!" He expanded his arms out as far as they could go. Hiccup saw Yrsa and Astrid share a look, unamused. "Massive. What's another word? Colossal."

"But what happened to the chicken━?"

"Forget the chicken!" snapped Tuff. "We gotta get out of here!"

Yrsa rubbed her eyes, annoyed. Her hair was all over the place like she had fallen through a tree with a birds nest. Hiccup has never actually seen her so out of form. (It probably didn't help to her frustration). "Is anyone falling for this?"

"I don't know..." murmured Ruffnut as she approached her heaving brother. "I haven't seen him this freaked out since he found a leech on his━"

"Okay," Astrid held her hands out, shaking her head with her nose contorted up with disgust. "I'm gonna stop you there. Urgh."

"Did not need that image in my head," muttered Yrsa, ready to head back off to sleep but Hiccup just spun her back around. Even if no one believed Tuffnut, they were a team, and he was their leader; Hiccup had to see this through━who knows, maybe Tuff had seen something out there. And if he did, then it was their responsibility to find it.

"Whoa, whoa━" Hiccup couldn't help but yawn, pushing Yrsa forward with an encouraging nudge out of her disgruntled state. "Let's just check this out, okay? Then we can all go back to sleep."

They all followed Tuffnut into the woods of the island. He retraced his steps to where he had been before, eyes narrowed at every sound they came across. Hiccup tried to listen as well, but so far, the only sounds were that of the night-time. Bugs in the trees, calling to each other in high-pitched tones and nocturnal mammals scuttling through the bushes.

"Okay," said Tuffnut as they shuffled along, tired, in a line, "when this giant beast rips us limb from limb, i will expect a full apology from each and every one of you." They stopped by a small break in the trees. Hiccup frowned at Tuff who crouched near the shrubs. "And a handshake," he added off-handedly. "No, you won't be able to shake hands 'cause your limbs will be gone."

Astrid sent Hiccup a glance to say, why are you humouring this?

There was a rustle in the shrubs. Tuffnut leapt from his hiding spot, ready to fight with multiple waves of his arms. Hiccup and the others froze and they shared a moment of wait, could Tuffnut actually be telling the truth━until out of the shrub, waddled in a chicken. It clucked at the sight of them, ruffling her feathers.

Tuffnut's poses fell away and he glared at the chicken. "No!" he cried. "It was here and it was huge!" He glanced back at them. "I'm not making this up! Here━" he turned to the chicken, "tell them. You were standing right there. Tell them, chicken!"

Hiccup could feel Yrsa's gaze; he expected the incredulous arched brow. Ruffnut pursed her lips and walked up to her brother. She tapped him on the shoulder, "Uh, you're scaring me, bro, okay? And we shared a womb."

He was a little hesitant to leave; brows furrowed, Hiccup was the last to follow back to camp. But in the end, even he sighed and left Tuffnut alone.

◞ ★ ꒱꒱◜

"OKAY!" morning rose, and Hiccup stood up onto his feet, stretching out his arms with a loud yawn. Toothless moaned behind him, not wanting to get up either after they had all been startled awake by Tuffnut late in the night. "Now, let's talk outpost."

He realised he was the last one to be awake. Glancing at the others, most of the team were all standing around, chatting and shuffling papers, rocks and sticks around. At Hiccup's side, Astrid suddenly slid in, holding out a messily━but precise━drawn blueprint on parchment, ready to show off. Hiccup arched his brow, startled but trying to read her mass charcoal drawings of fire, spikes and skulls. "Well, since you brought it up," she began. "I've been working on my designs. We'll set up lookout posts with interlocking fields of fire and━"

"Never get any rest," Fishlegs cut her off and Astrid glowered. He ignored her, gesturing to his design on his shield. "But here, in my meditation garden━"

"Neither of those are S-shaped," butted in Snotlout, arms on his hips. "Did you not see my design."

"Oh, we did," spoke up Yrsa from the river as she cleansed her face in her early morning routine, "we just chose to ignore it."

"Shut up, Yrsa."

"Boar pit!" Ruffnut jumped up, chanting with her fists in the air. "Boar pit! Boar pit!"

"Guys, guys, listen to me, okay?" Hiccup held up his hands, quieting the group of them down. "We need one idea, we can't just design six different outposts━" it was then that an idea hit him; a brilliant on in fact. One that will solve all of his worries and problems. He grinned, very proud of himself. "Or ... can we? You know what? Boar pit. Great idea."

Yrsa dropped her clay jar into the water. Ruffnut stumbled in her shock. The others froze, gobsmacked.

"Whoa," let out Ruffnut, rearing behind Snotlout. Astrid shuffled away from Hiccup, startled. "What just happened?"

"Oh, 'S' shape?" Hiccup snapped his fingers at Snotlout, winking. "I love it."

(He'd be honest, seeing the disgusted and freaked-out look on his cousin's face was by far the most satisfying thing he's felt so far). "Don't freak me out, Hiccup!" He gaped. "It gives me the willies..."

"I'm just saying," Hiccup chuckled at their reactions, "let's all come up with a design that we each think is the best and then we'll vote on it. Does that sound fair?"

They all stared at him blankly. Yrsa walked up to him, drying her clay jar of sandy-concoctions Gothi had made for her with a suspicious look upon her face. "What are you up to?" she asked, recognising the smug look on his face.

Hiccup quickly removed it, hiding it with a chuckle, "Noth━nothing at all! Just trying to keep the troops happy. You know what they say ..." she propped a hand on her hip. "Happy troops are, uh ... happy ... groups ...?" She just rolled her eyes and set off with the others to start designing their outposts. Hiccup caught Ruffnut before she left though, wondering where her brother was. "Hey━uh━speaking of troops," she glanced back at him, still quite blank-faced. "Ruff, were's your other half?"

"Don't ask me," she said. "All I know is, this boar pit is not gonna dig itself."

She left after that, stomping towards the edge of the woods. Hiccup pursed his lips and glanced off to where they had seen Tuffnut last, wondering what trouble he had gotten himself into now.

All around, the Dragon Riders began to work on their designs. Sitting amongst each other with their backs huddled and their heads hung over their small mounds of rocks, twigs and leaves, there was not a single yell in the air; not a single complaint, single shout of pain from Astrid or Yrsa hitting Snotlout, not a single whisper out of any of their mouths in their concentration.

(It was absolute bliss).

Hiccup leaned back against Toothless's side, gazing at his friends. He sighed, content. "Do you hear that, Toothless?" he whispered to the Night Fury.h He purred in reply. "That's the sound of peace and quiet. You know, making them work together might just be the best idea I've ever had."

Yrsa peered menacingly at her design as if it was a Berserker that had seriously gotten under her skin. Hiccup smiled, amused to see her nose so scrunched up in concentration as she carefully set down the rock on the tower she has been working on. Setting it on top of the sticks, she held back her fingers, stretched at waiting for it to fall. When it didn't, she breathed out a grin and clapped her hands together. Hiccup's heart fluttered.

Not too far from her, Fishlegs and Snotlout sat side-by-side in their building efforts, which Hiccup should have realised was an immediate recipe for disaster. As Snotlout reached for another rock, Fishlegs grabbed it, snatching it from its place. When he realised the rock was no longer there, Snotlout scowled at Fishlegs. "Uh, excuse me? My rock."

Fishlegs dropped his shoulders, annoyed. "Oh," he let out sarcastically, "how do you figure?"

"I need it!" said Snotlout. "That rock makes the bottom of my 'S'━and I need my 'S'."

"Really? Your 'S'. Your genius architectural marvel."

"Give me the rock."

"Ah, since you put it like that ..." Fishlegs held it out, only to swipe it away as Snotlout snatched for it. With a chuck, he threw it towards Meatlug who gobbled it up happily, spitting it back out as lava onto the grass. "There," said Fishlegs, smugly. "There's your rock."

Snotlout gritted his teeth. Standing up, he threw himself onto Fishleg's tranquil garden, flattening it to pieces under his chest. The pudgy Viking gasped, horrified. "And there's your architectural marvel," snapped Snotlout smartly.

Fishlegs whimpered at his own broken masterpiece.

Hiccup sighed, standing up with Toothless at his side. "And I've spoken too soon."

Toothless growled, wandering off to slump in the sunset with Helrose with a flick of his tail, not wanting to deal with this. Hiccup frowned at his best friend, about to say: Oh, sure, leave me to deal with them but Ruffnut skipped up to him━he arched a brow at her perkiness. "Hey, Hiccup," she purred. "I'm ready for a dry run." She held up her fists playfully with a bat of her eyelashes and Hiccup stepped away, disgusted. "You want to be the boar? Heh, heh━"

Her words fell away as her brother walked past them. Tuffnut looked as though he had been through Hel and back━well, if Niflheim was a band of bushes and trees. He looked like he had a fight with a tree monster with the amount of twigs and leaves stuck to his helmet and in his hair.

"Whoa..." murmured Ruff. "What happened to him?"

As he wandered past, Yrsa glanced up and gasped, "Whoa, Tuff, you look like you fell off a cliff."

"I fell off two, actually," he corrected as he sat down by the log they had set up for camp. That same chicken he had found in the woods earlier jumped up beside him. Hiccup fetched him some water and Yrsa came to join him, standing at his side with Ruff as they waited for Tuff to finish his story.

Once he was done, Hiccup was in shock. "You've really been out there all day looking for that dragon."

(He felt really guilty for leaving Tuff out there now).

Ruff crossed her arms, eyes narrowed, "Instead of digging our boar pit?" She scoffed, sharing a glance with Hiccup and Yrsa. "Priorities, huh?"

"Or maybe he really did see something."

"Oh, I saw something," Tuff set aside the hollowed horn, leaning towards them with a dramatic point of his finger. He glanced back at the chicken. "You did, too, you little back-stabbed," she just tilled her head at him with a confused cluck. "Tell them." She fluttered her wings but Tuffnut held a hand up to her beak, "Oh, save it. You had your chance."

Yrsa leaned in closer to Hiccup to whisper (and he had to try and hide how his whole body shivered to feel her breath so close to his neck), "I'm going to say something about the chicken."

Hiccup shook his head, even though he was weirded-out himself, "I think it's best not to question it."

"Or," Ruff peered at her brother, clouded in suspicion, "this whole thing is a bunch of stinky yak dung."

Tuff jumped to his feet and walked up to her. He raised an accusing finger. "You know? First of all, yak dung, when made into a nice tea, can be quite aromatic," his tongue clicked pompously on the word.

"Agreed," his sister crossed her arms. "But I still think you're just trying to scare everybody." She leaned in closer, brows dipped in anger. "There's no dragon out there!"

"Uh, yeah, there is Ruffnut," Tuff matched her gaze, both twins looking scarily identical in the morning sunlight. "You willing to put your mutton where your mouth is?"

"Oh," she chuckled dangerously, "you're not suggesting ..."

"Oh, I am. I'm suggesting it like a hot Gronckle in a lava pit. And you know exactly what that means."

Hiccup and Yrsa shared an uh oh look. Whatever was happening, they needed to end it quick. "Uh━" Hiccup stepped forward carefully, "━what is going on with you two?"

"Silence!" Ruffnut snapped, not taking her gaze off her twin.

Tuff held a hand to his puffed chest and announced proudly, "I officially declare Thorston challenge."

Hiccup blanched, "Thorston what?!"

"Accepted!" cried Ruff up. "Usual stakes?"

"Of course."

"What━what stakes?!"

"Hush," Tuffnut shook his head at Hiccup, "it's better you don't know." The Twins spat into their hands and gripped them tight into a shake. Yrsa turned up her nose. They walked past them towards their dragon and in the background, there were shouts and yells from Snotlout, Fishlegs and Astrid as they all grabbed for a single rock. Yrsa cried out, livid when they knocked over her outpost design.

"Oh, come on!" she ran over and joined the fray, abandoning her regal stance to leap right up onto Fishlegs's back with a furious yell.

Hiccup winced after her and Toothless moaned. "I know, bud," he said to his dragon. "I'm losing it, too━" he turned back after the Twins. "Ruff, Tuff, wait up!" he jumped onto his saddle and took to the air, following the two that disappeared into the distance. "How about a couple of impartial judges for the Thorston Challenge?! For the love of Thor━take us with you...!"

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     IT WAS becoming late, and they still hadn't found anything remotely close to a dragon. Hiccup slumped in his saddle, growing tired. The moon had risen halfway to midnight, and he had taken to trying to pinpoint some star for directions on his map instead of looking for this dragon that he, too, like Ruff, was starting to believe did not at all exist.

      Tuffnut had fallen asleep on his saddle, cuddling the chicken close to his chest like a pillow. When he started to slip and Hiccup had to dip in and push him back up did he decide, "And that's where we should probably call it a night."

     Ruff grinned and sat back up in her saddle. "Sure! Since we never found that quote unquote 'Yakdragon', declare me the Thorston Challenge Winner and we can all go home!"

     Hiccup sighed. To be honest, he wasn't sure whether he wanted to declare a winner; he still didn't know what the losing stakes were. "Uh ... yeah, okay, sure ... Um, by the power━uh━vested in me? I ... uh, hereby declare that Ruffnut is the━whoa!"

     At the echoing roar in front of them, like a thousand birds squawking all together at once, Toothless balked. Hiccup quickly gripped his saddle again to stop himself from falling right off, eyes wide and heart pounding to see a grey and black mass rise from the trees in the form of a dragon. It was like a cloud; a great, big, screeching cloud that swooped right at him.

     He yelped and ducked down low to his saddle. Watching it sweep past, his breath was taken away. It took a short moment for him to say, "I━I can't believe it!"

     The commotion startled Tuffnut and the chicken from their slumber. The Twins watched the reptile circle, one delighted and the other furious. "Me neither!" grumbled Ruffnut. "Tuffnut wins the Thorston Challenge!"

     "Yes! Told you! Now, pay up━"

     She punched her brother across the shoulder. Barf and Belch's faces went flat in annoyance as their riders scuffled and fought one another between their necks. Hiccup couldn't help but agree with the dragon. And they had way worse problems to worry about. The dragon might be hard to see in the night, fluttering and buzzing about as if it was made out of a hundred little clouds, but Hiccup could see it heading to the one place he feared. He soared Toothless past Ruff and Tuff, "Guys, focus! Look where its headed: straight for our campsite! If it catches those guys asleep on the ground━"

     This sobered them up. But before Hiccup could discuss a plan, they had dived straight towards the dragon. He gritted his teeth, "Guys!"

     Pulling Toothless up and then down, he followed after them.

     "SEE YOU IN VALHALLA!"

      Hiccup blanced, "What? No! Stop!"

      But they descended into the dragon's mass.

      Hiccup and Toothless stopped in shock at the way the dragon seemed to explode from the inside. The cloudy mass that made it hard to come up with a figure of the dragon hadn't been clouds━instead, it was enitrely made up of minaiture dragons. Smokey-black scaled dragons screeched and darted away from the Twins, swooping and darting about like a disorganised flock of birds.

      "It's not one big dragon!" exclaimed Hiccup, a grin on his face despite it━unable to keep his excitement in. A new dragon! Another new dragon! He knew they hadn't found them all! "It's tons of little ones!"

       The Twins matched the dragons' shrieks as they ducked and covered their faces from the swooping little dragons only just larger than Terrible Terrors. Once they discarded, Ruff opened her eyes. Then, she frowned. "If this is Valhalla ..." she pointed an angry finger at her brother; they finished together: "What are you doing here?!"

       "Whoa━" Tuff's eyes catched sight of something intersting. "Check that out."

      Hiccup followed his gaze and was pleasantly surprised. Unlike the other dragons, one stood out in a stark albino white; a little larger and a little stronger. He screeched at the rest of the dragons spun back in their chaotic flight, soaring right to him in an organised flock again. They swarmed him, and in seconds, formed back the figure they held before. Hiccup recognised it now. It was a larger version of themselves.

       His eyes widened, struck with awe.

      "They're joining back up around the white one," said Ruffnut.

      "He must be the leader," breathed Hiccup, grinning. "This is amazing!"

      The Twins shared a quick look and dived back in. His grin fell. "Uh ... Guys, what are you doing?!"

       From the back of their saddle, they pulled out one of the nets everyone of them kept for emergencies and drew it between the two of them. Charging right at the leader of the pack, they caught him with a swift grab; and the flock scattered.

     "BAM!" cried Tuffnut, proud of himself. "Problem solved!"

      Hiccup wasn't so sure, however. As they lead the way back to the campsite, he muttered to Toothless, "I don't know about you, bud, but I've got a bad feeling about this..."

◞ ★ ꒱꒱◜

     "AMAZING..."

      The white dragon screeched in the net, flailing its legs and arms. He glared up at them, squawking and baring his teeth. He was smaller than most dragons, but in Hiccup's experience, that just made them more ferocious. He and the others all peered down at him, circled around this small, new dragon they had never seen before.

      "It looks sort of like a Terrible Terror," asid Astrid. It screeched at her and she winced. "But bigger and meaner."

      "And it seems like they're nocturnal," added Hiccup.

      He glanced at Snotlout who stared blankly at the creature. He arched a brow. "You know, they come out at night━"

     "Yeah, I knew that," scoffed Snotlout. "Noc-a-turnal." Yrsa sighed at the pronounciation, her hand rising up to her forehead in exasperation. "I was gonna explain that to them━" he pointed to the Twins who raced each other in a circle, the chicken joining in with ruffles of her feathers and mighty squawks that they were in hysterics over.

      Deciding to let them be, Fishlegs cleared his throat and continued, "I say we call them Night Terrors━" suddenly, the chicken fluttered up to him, landing in his palms and crowing at his facce. It was remarkable; Hiccup could almost imagine her glaring at him and declaring, oh, no you don't.

      In her shadow, came Tuffnut, "Hey! I saw him first, so I get to name him!" the chicken clucked at him and Tuff pointed a finger at her. "No! You always say that. Now, let's think about this logically." He frowned down at the dragon. "They come out at night and they're terrifying. Terror of the night ... I got it!" he turned to the others. "Smidvarg and the Gang!"

      None of them were amused.

      "And Night Terrors it is!" declared Hiccup after a moments pause. He caught Yrsa's smirk.

      A dragon's cry in the distance made their smiles drop. They all turned to the sound━Hiccup felt his stomach clench; those roars sounded terribly familiar.

      The Night Terror under the net's screeching grew worse. He fought to get out, thrashing his claws and talons on his wings, only to get tangled more. Hiccup frowned, feeling his shoulders weigh with a sudden worry. Something wasn't right.

      "What's going on out there?" asked Yrsa, hands clenching into fists.

      "I don't know," murmured Tuffnut, "but whatever it is, Smidvarg doesn't like it, and the Gang ain't paying attention."

      "Let's check it out," said Hiccup and his team nodded. Together, they ran to their dragons and took off.

      Following the roars and screeches with twists in their stomachs, the Dragon Riders were gravely silent. Swooping over the darkened forest in the moonlight, Yrsa spotted the problem before anyone else.

       Her gasp was stuck in the back of her throat, "Changewings!" she announced, pointing down at the swarm of Night Terrors. They screeched, fearful of the red triangular-headed dragons surrouding them; four at least.

      Toothless growled at the sight. Hiccup agreed. He rubbed his crown, "I know, bud," he said, livid, "not exactly a fair fight, is it?" he raised his voice and shot an order over his shoulder. "Let's even up the odds!"

      They dived down. Toothless fired a blast at the closest Changewing, sending it astray from the group. Yrsa found one flciker to camoflaugh with the trees and plunged Helrose forward; the Devilish Dervish's fire was a column of immense, burning fire that melted right through the tree. The Changewing shrieked and retreated off into the forest.

      "No bullies on our island!" she declared. Hiccup smiled as she shot past.

      Having her back as the other Changewings attacked were Snotlout and Astrid, firing them away with mighty blasts. "Hey!" shouted Snotlout. "You can't treat our dragons like that!"

      The Twins exploded the last to retreat. "Only we can treat our dragons like that!" finished Ruffnut.

       Hiccup nodded, satisifed. He pulled Toothless up to a hover beside Yrsa. "That should take care of them."

      "Uh ..." Fishlegs pointed out to the horizon. They looked over. Hiccup's stomach dropped and he thought: oh, come on━as another pack of Changewings were making their way towards them to replace the others. "What about those guys?"

     Hiccup checked the numbers through his spyglass and he winced. It was at least double. "Incoming!" he called.

     "How many?" cried Astrid.

     "Too many!"

     "Why are they all coming here now?" asked Fishlegs. Meatlug gurgled nervously.

      Hiccup frowned at the dragons, his head working. He tried to figure out the reason in the little time they had, and then it hit him━ "It must be the Night Terrors," he said. "When we captured the white one, they all split up."

     "Oh! Of course!" exclaimed Fishlegs, throwing a hand to his face. "They flock into a shape of a giant version of themselves as a defense mechanism to scare off predators."

      "And now that they can't..."

     "They're lunch," finished Yrsa, gaze muddled with worry.

     "Oh, I knew this was gonna be bad," cursed Hiccup as the Changewings grew nearer and nearer. "Okay," he glanced up at Yrsa, "we have to help them. I'll head back to the white Night Terror. He's their leader. You guys hold them off as long as you can."

      Toothless expanded his wings out and he and Hiccup darted back towards the campsite. The Night Fury shrieked━as he usually did at these speeds; and they reached the campsite in just under a minute. Hiccup leapt off before they even landed, hitting the grass running and dropping down to pull off the net from the leader Night Terror.

      The dragon screeched furiously━right in Hiccup's ear. He winched, hunching. His ear rung afterwards and he tugged it with a, "Yeah, probably deserved that."

      The Alpha Night Terror took to the sky after his pack, but some unwelcomed company had followed. Shimmering into light, two Changewings surrounded the Terror. Hiccup growled, furious━Changewings were by far one of his least favourite dragons. Toothless snarled and tried to shoot them out of the sky but they dodged with ease. He roared at Hiccup.

     "Yeah, yeah, bud━I'm coming━!" Hiccup ran to him and in one swift motion, swept up onto the saddle, clicked his foot in and off they went. With a mighty fold of his wings, Toothless caught up speed in just inches from the ground; the strength he held made him the fastest dragon in the skies for a reason. But for one of the few times, they might be just too slow.

     One of the Changewings opened his maw and was closing in on the Terror's flank━

     But a gust of noxious green gas caught him off guard. There was a spark, and the Changewings tumbled away at the explosion followed with a familiar set of maniac cheers.

     "You leave our Smidvarg alone!" snapped Tuffnut.

     Hiccup let out a sigh of relief. He met them in the sky, "Great job! Okay, you cover Smidvarg from behind━" Tuffnut's face lit up at the name, "━Toothless and I will lead the way." He realised. Hiccup chuckled. "What? Okay, so it's growing on me."

◞ ★ ꒱꒱◜

     "WHAT'S THIS?"

     Hiccup frowned at Astrid, a little upset she didn't recognise his drawing first up. He put work in it. He even wet the charcoal for shading!

     The team agreed with Astrid's question, standing around in a circle and peering down at the parchment at their feet. Hiccup's design was propped down on the grass, secured with rocks to keep it from blowing away in the wind the next morning. They shared glances at the drawing of the area around them filled with birds-eye views of their huts and everything they would need for an Outpost; including all of their ideas into one.

     "A diagram of our new outpost," Hiccup explained, hands propped proudly on hi ships. "I got the idea from Smidvarg. See, I combined all of your ideas into one giant base. And I was thinking we could call it the Dragon's Edge. What do you guys think?"

     They all shared one glance. That was it. One glance and they returned their gazes to him, every single on of them nodding. He blinked, surprised. "Okay," he let out slowly, "I just need to point out that this was the first time that that has ever happened."

     Astrid smirked, amused. She nudged Yrsa and the girls chuckled under their breath at Hiccup's reaction. He narrowed his eyes at them. "Okay," he turned their attention back to the blueprint. They crouched down around it. "Let's take a look." Hiccup spread his fingers out along the charcoal. "Everybody gets to make their section of Dragon's Edge whatever they want it to be. Astrid━" he pointed to the area to the far right, "━you can make yours the most heavily-armed bedroom in the known Viking world. Yrsa━" the finger moved up to a nook in the cliffs beside Hiccup's own hut, "━you're welcome to set up whatever you need; whatever you deem neccessary. Catapults? Sure. A place for you to grow those herbs Gothi gave you? Definitely."

     He got a smile from her; a good one, and that brightened up his day.

     "And, Fishlegs," went on Hiccup, "your place is quiet and secluded, overlooking the ocean, very serene, very relaxing, with lots of room for your very own rock garden." Fishlegs pumped his fist, happy. "Snotlout, your spot is up here━" he tapped the highest hut. "Now, it's not 'S'-shaped, but you can go 'S'-crazy and paint them all over it."

     Snotlout's eyes welled up with tears, "I take it back," he told Hiccup. "I don't hate you anymore."

     The Twins were estatic for their turn, throwing their arms up and cheering in sync, "Boar pit! Boar pit! Boar pit!"

     Hiccup chuckled, "Yes, yes, ahah! Glad you brought that up. There's a space for one right underneath your hut━" he pointed to their area on the design. "Just do me a favour and lock up the boars after you're done with them?"

     "Aww..." Ruffnut cupped her cheeks, flattered.

     "You do care," added her brother, cooing. "Boo━do━boo━do━do."

     Hiccup arched a brow, but let it go. "We'll connect the different sections with bridges, zip-lines and gangplanks," he went on, gesturing around them wildly in his own excitement. "We'll have really cool stables with our own landing strip. And, of course━" he added with a glance to Yrsa and Astrid, "━a dragon training arena. And in the centre, overlooking everything else, will be the Clubhouse, the eye of Dragon's Edge. And our very own sentries━" he smiled to Smidvarg who was cleaning his wings on a tree by their campsite. "The Night Terrors."

     "So, gang," he finsihed with a deep breath, "are we all happy?"

     Snotlout started up a cheer, "Dragon's Edge!" he cried, and the others followed.

◞ ★ ꒱꒱◜

     chicken or macey?

     what are y'all excited to see with Yrsa in rtte?

     (sorry if there are any mistakes)