After winning the dragon race, Dad calls Hiccup and I down to the dock where he has a ship ready.
"Hiccup, Nara, I'm leaving town for a couple of days on official business." Dad says, before whispering, "I've managed to locate wood on Loki Island that's lighter and stronger than anything we've ever seen! We're building our ship out of it!" Dad clears his throat and starts talking at his normal booming voice. "I'm leaving you in charge, Hiccup. You'll be Acting Chief while I'm gone. Your sole focus is—"
"Oh, let me guess. The regatta." Hiccup says.
"Well, don't look so excited." Dad says sarcastically.
"Oh, we're excited. We love setting up stands and putting up banners and getting everyone fired up to watch boats sail slooowly across the harbour." I say, dragging out the "o" in slowly. "It's not like I can watch it anyway. I once watched the regatta facing the complete other direction and nobody bothered to correct me until Hiccup noticed I was facing the other direction. It was still the exact same experience."
"Kids, we Vikings have always had something to fight about." Dad says. "Be it dragons or Dagur or Alvin. If we're not fighting something, we're fighting each other."
Just then, further up the docks, two men are fighting each other, with fish, instead of bludgeons.
"I rest my case." Dad says. "Look, the regatta's good way to blow off steam."
"Ah, it's sort of old." I say.
"Couldn't we come up with something a bit more current?" Hiccup says.
"Kids, it's a tradition. And it's worked for many, many a year. Thank you very much." Dad says.
"All right, Dad. We got it. We both do." Hiccup says.
Dad laughs as he gets on the ship. "That's my boy!"
I hear Fishlegs stealthily move up behind Hiccup.
"Hello, Fishlegs." I say.
"Huh?" Hiccup asks.
"Wow." Fishlegs says, scaring Hiccup.
"Oh, Fishlegs, please. Do you know how creepy that is?" Hiccup says.
"Sorry, Hiccup. I just couldn't help overhearing." Fishlegs apologies. "You're in charge of the regatta? Do you know what an honour that is? It's... it's... how do I find the words?"
"A boat race?" Hiccup and I say together, confused at Fishlegs' enthusiasm.
"Please, please, please." Fishlegs says with an air of amusement. "That's like saying a Gronckle is just a dragon."
Meatlug walks right by us and Fishlegs follows her to a boat.
"Oh, hey, Meatlug." Hiccup says. "Wait. What do you guys have going on over there?"
"Whoa, whoa, whoa. Not so fast!" Fishlegs says. "Top secret stuff under there. Meatlug and I have been working day and night to carry on the Ingerman family tradition. It's our first regatta. I'm finally old enough. Isn't that exciting? Oh, girl, just hold me!"
Hiccup and I laugh sarcastically, before saying, "Oh, I can hardly contain myself."
(Time Skip)
Later that evening, Astrid brought me to the arena to go over the rules of dragon racing.
"All right, so here's how it works." Tuff starts. "The sheep are hidden everywhere, which means you can't see them."
"Hence the hidden part." Astrid points out the obvious.
"Oh, somebody's been paying attention." Tuff chuckles. "All right. Wait, where was I?"
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The Forgotten Haddock: Short Films
FanfictionWhat if Hiccup wasn't an only child? What if he had a twin sister? What if she was blind? What if she also liked the fearless Astrid Hofferson? Find out here! (This is the third book in The Forgotten Haddock series even though two of the three techn...
