Defenders of Central City, Book 1: Journey to Icestorm Island

Chapter 12 Where's Hiccup?

Shannon started to work on repairing the nest with the Groncicles. She helped them collect snow and reform the nest. She even brought them some fish to eat. She felt bad because of what Mildew did to them. She didn't want the Groncicles to think that humans where not to be trusted. Shannon sighed at the thought of it. She looked at her phone to check the time. It was around noon. "That's funny." Shannon thought. "Hiccup said he'd come by hours ago. Maybe he got busy at Berk. I should go check on him." Shannon found Nightshade playing with Arctic. "Nightshade. Come on. We got to go find Hiccup. Then we can come back and you can continue your game." Nightshade stood up and bounded over to Shannon. Berk was it's normal self. The streets were full of Vikings going about, doing their own thing. Shannon saw Sven, pushing an apple cart down the street. She waved. He waved back. Unfortunately, he let go of his cart and it went flying down the hill. He chased after it. Shannon winced. "Shannon!" Shannon whipped around to see Gobber coming towards her. "Hey, Gobber." "Shannon, have you seen Hiccup?" Gobber asked. "No. I actually came here looking for him." Shannon looked around. "Well, if you do see him, tell him to get back here. His pile of work is stacked higher than Bucket! We'll have a big problem if it tips over." "Yes that would be unfortunate." Shannon remarked, glancing around.

Gobber walked off and Shannon turned to Nightshade. "If Hiccup isn't at Berk or Icestorm Island, then he's probably at the school." Shannon spotted Astrid at the Training grounds. "Hey Astrid! Have you seen Hiccup?" Shannon asked. "I was just about to ask you the same question. I've been looking for him all day. He's nowhere on this island." "And he's not at Berk either." Shannon sighed. As I said before. It was normal for Hiccup to disappear like this but he normally doesn't go exploring when he has a huge pile of work to complete. This was not good. Shannon had a nasty feeling in the pit of her stomach. "He might be at Icestorm Island." Astrid said after a moment of utter silence. "He probably lost track of time watching the Speed Stingers or any other creature that can move." Astrid continued "Yeah. That could be it. Lets go back to Icestorm Island." When they returned to Icestorm Island the camp was deserted. "We'll have a better chance of finding him if we split up." Astrid murmured. "Agreed." Shannon flew off to the west and Astrid flew off eastwards. Shannon was scanning the land. Looking for any sign that Hiccup was around. Something red caught her eye. Nightshade didn't even land. As they flew by, Shannon leaned over and grabbed the object. "Toothless' tail fin. This is not good. If Toothless doesn't have his tail he can't fly. I knew something wasn't right."

Shannon looked around in concern. Hiccup had to be in the area. They wouldn't have been able to stay airborne for long. She continued to fly west. "Hiccup?! Where are you?!" She yelled. Then she saw them. They were sitting on the huge Viking statue. "Hiccup!" Shannon landed right beside them and ran over to Hiccup. She gave him a big hug. "Shannon! Boy, am I glad to see you." Hiccup hugged her back. "What happened?" Shannon asked, looking around. "Toothless and I lost track of time. We were out in this snowstorm for much too long, and Toothless' tail fin froze over. We tried to use it to fly, then snap, it fell off, and we're gonna need your help to get off this rock." Hiccup saw Toothless' tail fin in her hand. "Oh! You found it!" Shannon handed it to him. "I doubt you'll be able to use it, Hiccup. Its severely damaged. And this is why you should always carry a spare tail fin." Hiccup looked at her. "I do always carry a spare tail fin. It's just, this is the spare." Shannon sighed. "Luckily, I carry one too, because your always forgetting to put in another spare."

Shannon rummaged in Nightshade's saddle bag and pulled out a spare fin. She handed it to Hiccup. "Thanks Shannon." Shannon smiled. "Your welcome. Now get your butt back to Berk. You have a pile of paperwork stacked higher than Bucket!" Hiccup sighed. "I doubt that's true, Shannon." Hiccup flew off. (BTW when Hiccup got back to Berk, the paperwork was stacked higher that Bucket.) Shannon made her way back to camp (After she told Astrid that she found Hiccup, of course) to relax for a little while. She closed her eyes and then: "Shannon! Shannon!" Shannon's eyes snapped opened. "Skulder?" She questioned sleepily. "What's going on?" Skulder sat down beside her. "Earlier I was speaking with your friend, that Mildew fellow." Shannon was to tired to correct Skulder. "He was asking me all about the ancient stone map fragments and the possibility of finding artifacts on this island. It's good to see him so inspired by our work!" Shannon looked at Skulder. "Where are you going with this, buddy?"

"I was wondering if you could invite him to the Viking ruin. I would love to show him what we've found. I saw him heading east from his house." Shannon stood up. "Alright." She still didn't like Mildew but if he really was changing, that would be amazing. She flew off east of Mildew's house, thinking about this when she pulled Nightshade to a screeching halt. There was a ship docked by a sea stack. It was very well hidden. But not that well hidden that Shannon couldn't see it. She landed Nightshade on top of the sea stack and quietly dismounted her. She ran to the edge pf the sea stack and pulled out two knifes. She placed on of them into the side and she quietly slide down the side. After a couple of seconds, she plunged the other knife into the sea stack to stop. She was very well hidden. Plus she had a perfect view of what was going on. "Dragon Hunters." she thought bitterly when she saw the insignia on the sail. Then she saw something even worse. Mildew was with them. Mildew was working with the Dragon Hunters.