Age of the Dragons (HTTYD Fanfiction)

Chapter 7

Sorry! I'm one day late! This chapter required a lot of major editing to get it to satisfaction, which took far longer than previously anticipated.

There were cheers as the dragons touched down, landing and folding their wings, before looking for their riders.

And immediately, the Berkians came rushing forward, while the dragons did the same.

In moments, the entire plaza was filled with dragons, hugging their riders. No one expected this to end anytime soon, it never did.

When, many minutes later, they broke apart, the Berkians began excitedly explaining to their dragons what had been going on in the last two weeks. The dragons were equal parts shocked and amazed, but seemed to support this plan.

Hiccup and Shadow walked around the village for a long time, just enjoying the other's presence. Finally, Hiccup broke the silence, and began to tell Shadow about the plan.

"Sarah says this core thing should be able to power all of these things once at a time, so we can activate our plan in stages. First, we use the news to catch up with recent events. Then, we implant the chips. Finally, we take off in the ship, cause the explosion, and...most of the Berkians go home."

Shadow looked inquisitively at Hiccup, and he sighed. "I haven't told the Berkians." Shadow nodded, prodding him to speak again. "I...haven't told the Berkians that me and the other original riders won't be going home."

Shadow stared at Hiccup in shock, mouth falling open. "I know bud," he said, "but what else can I do? The government is bound to try to exterminate the riders, as they try to convince people to break out of their current lives. There need to be some people who defend the people in the system." Shadow thought for a moment, and his head dropped. Hiccup slumped down on a slab of stone. "I really miss my parents. I wish that I could go back to them, but all the other Berkians have parents too, and what right to I have to deny any of them that?"

Shadow crooned miserably, and Hiccup was silent, lost in his own thoughts.

So he didn't notice the two shadows slipping off into the forest, having just witnessed the scene...

~/|\~

Sarah dodged a blast that would have cut her head off, rolling into a kneeling position and firing her neutron gun. Z flipped out of the way, launching another volley of spines, before reflecting a flash of light off her scales to blind Sarah.

But Sarah was quicker. She flipped out a mirror she had been keeping, and reflected the light right back at Z! And for a moment, both were blinded. Then, their opponent became visible, and they launched back into fighting.

It had been a relief for both Sarah and Z to train with her friend again, after two weeks of training alone, or teaching training.

They had spent almost the entire morning fighting, before they decided to call a break. Sarah plopped down on the ground, laughing. "Good game!" she said. Z snorted, and slashed her tail. Sarah didn't need to speak the same language as Z to know what she meant. "Absolutely not! You were not better than me! Actually, when I think about it, I was better than you!" And she laughed, launching into a tackle that barely made Z scoot backwards.

Laughing, Sarah and Z chased each other around the village, until they accidentally burst out of the bushes into the yard where the weapon parts were being stored. And Sarah barely had time to register what was going to happen, when her stumbling foot slammed into the power core component, kicking it forward.

Sarah froze in fear. She knew what would happen. She had seen the explosions caused by a mishandled Nucleus. The ones that could destroy New Berk and everything around it. She knew that was happening now.

BOOM!!! An explosion blasted across the sky, sending fire rushing in all directions. Rings of soot blasted across the landscape, blown off in an instant by the shockwave that came rushing through. And then the light descended from the sky, sending a wash of red heat forward...until.

WHOOM! Everything turned red.

~/|\~

Six and a half months, and still no lead. Scarlet Haddock was going absolutely crazy. Her son weighed heavily on her mind every single day, but despite all her toiling efforts, she could get nowhere.

Hiccup Horrendous Haddock XXIV was almost worse. He worked all day, and searched all night, getting less than an hour of sleep. So he dragged himself around every day, looking and feeling wretched.

And one day, it was too much for him. He collapsed at his work desk, unable to move, falling into a coma.

Suddenly, Scarlet Haddock had to provide for herself, as well as ridiculously large hospital fees for taking care of her husband. She had to work late hours, either working, eating or sleeping all the time, while endless guilt weighed upon her for not searching for her son.

Things were not going well for the Haddocks.

~/|\~

Sarah covered her eyes, expecting death. But the wave of heat passed, leaving a thick layer of slightly glowing smoke. She looked up in shock. How was she not dead?

"RUFFNUT AND TUFFNUT THORSTON! GET YOUR BUTTS DOWN HERE!" someone roared from above, and there was a whoosh of a Night Fury, before the smoke began to clear and Sarah saw Soren dragging Ruffnut and Tuffnut on Barf & Hurl. "Come on!" Ruffnut protested, "it was only a little fun!" Soren facepalmed, groaning. "I'll take it from here," Lila said, walking up. "Ruffnut," she said sweetly, "NO ASH ON DELICATE TECHNOLOGY!" Ruffnut winced, "Also, GO CLEAN THE SOOT OFF OF EVERYTHING THIS INSTANT!!!" "Fine!" Ruffnut said. "Tryant." Tuffnut muttered, as they took off. Lila gestured to Stormfly, and she embedded a tail spine in Ruffnut and Tuffnut's helmets. "That should teach them!" Lila said, wiping her hands.

"The power core didn't cause the explosion?" Sarah said, puzzled. Then, her head snapped around to the Nucleus a couple feet from her. And the memory of kicking it came back into her brain. It had made a hollow clang.

Shocked, Sarah ran over to it, and picked it up, snapping it open. And inside, was a clean, empty nucleus. There was no power in it. Sarah stared at it in shock. "HICCUP!!!"

Sarah found Hiccup five minutes later, breathing hard. "What is it?" Hiccup asked worriedly. Sarah couldn't speak. She just opened the Nucleus. He stared at it blankly. "What about it?"

It was then that Sarah realized that besides Christopher, she was probably the only person who knew how the Nucleus worked. "This is the power core. What's called the Nucleus. It shouldn't be empty, because that means it has no power, and we will be unable to power any of our devices!"

Hiccup looked shocked. "WHAT?!!" His plan was coming crashing down around him. "Is there anything we can do?" Sarah shook her head mutely. "No..." he whispered, thinking hard about something they could try. "Could we use something on New Berk to power it." "No," Sarah sighed, "you'd need a power source of 1,000,000 watts just to start it. And a plasmic material of enough concentration that it's surface tension who be able to survive being in the middle of two planets colliding in deep space! I don't think anything here can do that!"

Then, Shadow nudged Hiccup. "What is it bud?" Shadow rolled his eyes, and fired a plasma blast at Tuffnut, who was trying to flee New Berk on boat. And staring at the slightly blackened stone, Sarah and Hiccup simultaneously realized what Shadow was thinking.

"You could charge a Nucleus with a Skrill and a Night Fury!" Sarah exclaimed. "Shadow, that is genius!" Shadow puffed out his chest proudly, barely opening his eyes to blast Ruffnut off the boat she was trying to escape on.

"So," Hiccup said, pushing his own doubts to the back of his mind, "we only have one day to do this, let's power up the Nucleus!"

I know I said this was the last chapter of setup, but they still have to power up the Nucleus, so bear with me for one more chapter here! (10,000 words and still at New Berk!)