Rise of the Brave Tangled Dragons [COMPLETED]

Chapter 2

Hiccup rubbed his shoulder. He was learning quite a bit from this Night Fury, which helped him in the ring, but it couldn't help him when he got out of it. Why did Astrid have to punch him so hard? Just because I scratched the Gronckle before she could get to it doesn't give her the right to hit me. He opened the door to his house. But when it comes to Astrid, who am I to tell her what to do?

The wave of heat rolled over him as soon as he entered the room. The enormous brooding figure that Hiccup recognized as his father knelt in front of the fire, prodding the flame with a fire poker.

"Dad," Hiccup shut the door tightly and walked over to the chief of the tribe, "I know you're upset because of the whole expedition-to-the-dragons'-nest-not-working-out thing, but you have to look at the positive side of this."

Stoick the Vast turned his stern gaze from the fire to his son. Hiccup wisely stood past arms' reach just in case everything went wrong. "Well, if we went, we would have lost Vikings, ships, supplies..." Stoick returned to his sulking and poking the fire. Hiccup stood there awkwardly, trying to come up with something else to say.

"Aaaaaaaand...we, uh..... Look. What I'm trying to say is that you did the right thing in asking for help from-." His dad stood up and, gripping the fire poker with both hands, bent the rod to resemble the peak of a triangle. Hiccup stepped back in surprise. Stoick dropped the fire poker to the wooden floor with a loud clanging racket and stormed to his room in the back of the house. The sound of his stomps ended with the slam of his bedroom door.

Hiccup stood by himself near the fireplace. "So, uh...good! That's great! Nice talking with you, and I'll just...um...yeah." Dejectedly, he dragged himself upstairs, enjoying the thought of a long sleep in his nice warm bed. He had almost just pulled the covers over himself when a loud explosion destroyed the aura of peace.

"DRAGON ATTACK!"

Hiccup groaned and heard his father race out the doors and start barking orders to the villagers. Hiccup slumped out of bed and trudged over to his desk. He lighted the candle just as another fiery blast rocked the village. Hiccup checked off another mark on a sheet of paper to make five marks in all.

"Five days since we sent King Fergus the letter," Hiccup blew out the light and shuffled back into bed. "He should be coming tomorrow." The world went ablaze as a Monstrous Nightmare lit itself on fire. "I hope."

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Never before had Hiccup received a gentle wake-up call from his father. Today was no different. Stoick walked in on his sleeping son, grabbed the edge of the bed frame, and tilted it sharply away from himself. With a startled yelp, Hiccup fell out of bed and hit the floor. "What...? Why would you do that?!" he screamed at the chief.

Carelessly, Stoick dropped the bed to the floor with a bang. "They're here," was his reply before taking his leave.

It took a moment for Hiccup's disoriented and groggy mind to get a hold on what Stoic just said. With an "OH!" Hiccup jumped and quickly ran down the staircase while finger-combing his hair. "Do I look-," The door slammed behind Stoick's departing figure. "-okay?" Hiccup paused in his descent and in his grooming. "Huh." He jumped over the last three steps and paused to look at his reflection in a sword on the wall. "Well, considering it's me . . . it'll have to do."

When he exited the house, Hiccup was greeted by an empty village. At first, he thought that he might be seeing things, but a few pinches to the arm cured him of that idea. Stepping onto the paved stones leading away from his house, Hiccup asked, "Where is everybody?"