HTTYD Watch The Future (The Dragon King)

Chapter 3 Returning And Leaving

"text"- Movie

"text"- normal speech

"text"- thoughts, Dragonese

The following day Astrid had everyone up at the break of dawn, and ordered them to forge for breakfast. She was firmly inspecting everything found to make certain nothing was poisonous and when something turned up that was she taught the trainees on how to recognize it. When breakfast was over she set her students to work preparing shelters. These mostly consisted of digging holes without any proper tools and covering them with branches. As they did this Astrid prowled about like a wolf on the hunt.

The trainees who would be going on that trip shuddered. They knew it would be horrible but necessary.

"This one won't work," she told Ase flatly, "tell me why." Put on the spot, Ase panicked and could only shrug while her face turned bright red. "It's too unstable. If the weather turns stormy it will fall apart in minutes, and then you'll have to repair it in miserable conditions and risk getting sick from the cold and wet. Try again."

She left Ase when another girl standing nearby nervously came up to her and asked for her opinion on her own shelter. Astrid glanced at it and gave the same assessment she'd given Ase.

"But what if a storm doesn't come?" the girl asked.

"Then you're lucky. But you should always prepare for the worst case scenario." Hiccup spoke to the other humans for the first time, surprising them. Some had forgotten he was even there.

"Who even are you?" Norbert the Nutjob asked him. They had never seen or heard of this person and so naturally they were suspicious of him. Some even thought he could be the Dragon King since he matched his description.

"Who I am isn't of importance. I am much more interested in who this Dragon King is and what his intentions towards us are." Hiccup said. He could see that some of the "smarter" vikings were throwing him suspicious looks. He knew he'd be revealed later on but for now he might as well keep them guessing.

They weren't exactly pleased with his answer but they let it go... for now. Most of those who thought he could be the Dragon King abandoned that idea. After all if he was that interested in who it was it couldn't be him. Right? Poor simple minded vikings.

"Always prepare for the worst," Astrid replied, "that way if it doesn't happen you'll be pleasantly surprised, and if it does you won't be surprised at all." She then went off to have a look at one of the older boys who was trying to dig in the dirt with his hands.

"Well how am I supposed to do it without a shovel or a pick?" he demanded angrily after she reprimanded him.

"Show some respect to those older and more experienced than you, lad!" Some vikings including his parents and Stoick reprimanded him making him cower and apologize for his behavior.

"Find a stone and tie it to a strong branch."

"And what am I supposed to tie it with?" he asked as if he had asked something that would stump her.

"Your boots have laces, don't they? Or you could use your belt. And if you don't have a belt or boots in the future, bark or long grasses would work well enough. If nothing else, you could just use the rock to dig with. It would go faster than by hand and there'd be less chance of your hands getting cut and infected."

Parents were telling their kids to pay attention and take notes. After all these kinds of things could decide whether you survive or die.

With Astrid moving about in this fashion nobody dared to talk about the Dragon King: they eagerly wanted to, but were too worried Astrid would call on them to demonstrate something. Snotlout mostly spent this time tailing Astrid and giving out tips when needed, which Astrid often ordered her students to ignore. Fishlegs had been put in charge of serving as lookout and keeping watch on the emergency rations.