The Great Beyond

Chapter 51: Shell Shocked, Pt. 1 (Hiccup)

              Darkness would coat the world around us, and the Hunters completely unaware on their patrol. The Berserkers, A Team, and Dragon Riders would all be flying in a tight formation, ready to attack the boats, traps, and other antagonists in our way. Viggo's island, dead in our sights, would serve as the final marker.

"Everyone ready?" I'd direct my attention to the Riders first, who hopefully would give me some sort of signal that they were ready for their part. "A Team?" They'd have to be prepared as well. "Berserkers?" Something told me that Dagur, Heather, and Reign were going to tell me they were prepped and ready to go, regardless of whether or not they actually were.

The first wave would be the A Team, who would take care of the Hunters on the boats keeping watch. They'd have to be stealthy, and ensure their boisterous natures were kept in check for the time being, but if they worked together, they should be able to get it done within a minute at most.

Next, the Berserker family would use their varying skill sets—Dagur's traps, Heather's stealth, and Reign's strength—to take out Hunters on the eastern end of Viggo's camp, then Reign and Shriek would take off and meet up with Toothless and I again.

Snotlout and Fishlegs were assigned to the western part of the island. They didn't always get along, but they had powerful dragons, and in Fishlegs' case, impressive control over attacks. Even Hookfang's unpredictability could come in handy in this situation—but there would be absolutely no room for Snotlout and his dragon to get into any sort of altercation with each other. That's the one stipulation with letting him take quite a bit of responsibility. Meanwhile, the twins would take on the caves, and Astrid, my dad, and Gobber would take on the Hunters immediately surrounding Viggo's tent and Ryker.

Finally, finally, Reign and I would enter Viggo's tent and ensure he couldn't reach for any weapons. In his arrogance, Viggo would leave the Dragon Eye sitting out on the table, primed for me to reach out and snatch it off the surface.

"I'll take that."

Then, the only thing left would be—

"Really? 'I'll take that?' That's the best you can come up with?"

Reign and I turned away from the papers laid out on the wooden board, directing our attentions to Tuffnut, who had completely interrupted our explanation. It hadn't been a big question, or clarification, but instead... just a minor issue that didn't matter.

"This is your moment, H. Books will be written about it." Everyone now stared at Tuffnut, waiting for him to ride this out so that we could finish relaying this plan to everyone and give them a chance to relax before we left. "Children will act it out. Some adults will act it out, but it won't be as cute as the children. You need a killer catchphrase. One line that will withstand the test of time. As the sands and the oceans pass, your words will remain. You've just defeated one of the toughest, most ruthless villains in the world."

"Who everyone thought was smarter than you."

Reign's head snapped up suddenly, her senses completely tuned in by that insult.

"Now wait a minute," she growled. I reached out and grabbed onto her arm, pulling her back as she tried to charge at the twins.

"Really? Everyone?" I huffed, unamused.

"Well, there's no hard data, but if you had to guess..."

"Okay, I'll work on something cool to say when I take him down. Happy?" I sighed. Of course, I wasn't really going to waste my time on that, not when there were much more pressing issues to worry about.