Dragons: Riders Of Berk

Episode 3

Animal House

Here on Berk we made peace with the dragons. We're finally living and working together...and it only took us three hundred years. There's one slight problem...

We forgot to tell the animals.

Bucket and Mulch were having problems on their farm for possibly the fifteenth time in two months. Dragons were flying about and the animals were running everywhere in a panic as was the norm now that the winged reptiles had moved in.

"Oh, not again," Mulch groaned as two dragons had an argument over something which sent a bunch of chickens fleeing to the other side of the yard in an attempt to get to safety. "You go on now...you get, get, shoo!" he snapped, flapping the dragons away. They flew off but judging by the continuous growling and screeching, their argument was far from over. "Now, you know you're not supposed to be in here," Mulch scolded, shooing the remaining dragons away. Once they were out of sight of the farm, he turned towards the animals themselves. "Alright everybody, time to earn your keep," he noted cheerily.

"It's chickens who lay eggs, right?" Bucket asked dimly. Mulch gave him a look. He'd forgotten how many times he'd gone over the same conversation with the guy.

"Do we really need to go over this again?" he groaned.

"No..." Bucket mumbled, walking over to a sheep but instead of shearing it for wool, he picked it up as if to check for eggs. Mulch pinched his eyebrows together and walked over to help.

"Apparently we do," he huffed. "Well, pay attention Bucket. Wool. Eggs. Milk," he explained, pointing at a sheep, chicken and yak respectively. "Wasn't so hard now, see?" he asked but Bucket still looked confused. Poor guy. Mulch huffed and walked over to a yak to milk it. "Observe," he instructed. Bucket watched his friend intently. "Just grab the udder, like so, and pull," Mulch explained, demonstrating but not even a single drop of creamy liquid fell into the pail. Mulch tried again. "Uh...pull?" he frowned. Still nothing. "Pull!" he grunted. The pail still sat dry under the yak who was still quivering.

"Uh-oh. I think we're empty," Mulch grimaced. "That's not good."

. • ° • .

Whilst the village was having trouble with the animals, up on Death Peak, it couldn't have been a more different story for the two top fliers on the island.

"Ya-hoo!" Astrid Hofferson hooted as she pelted down the mountainside on Starlight, her Light Fury. Not far behind was Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III with his Night Fury, Nightshadow.

"Yeah, baby!" Hiccup laughed gleefully as he chased after his fiancée through the trees and leaping over snowdrifts. It was the middle of winter and the pair had taken to a new sport called Dragon-Boarding to get away from the village every now and then, holding races almost daily – gliding and sliding only, no flying. Despite the races being mainly friendly, the two teens were still fiercely competitive with each other and they weren't exactly known to fly fairly.

Hiccup had managed to gain a tiny lead ahead of Astrid. Glancing over his shoulder, he smirked and tapped Nightshadow's shoulder so that he whacked his tail, hitting Starlight's face and making them almost crash.

"Whoa!" Astrid yelped and she and Starlight swerved to avoid hitting the ground. "Hey, Hiccup!" she cried once she'd regained her composure. Hiccup smirked playfully at her over his shoulder.