NOVEL NEXT Chapter 57: chapter 2
Away from Berk, the missing Night Fury in question was taking a solo flight over the ocean as the race was coming to an end.
~~~HTLANF~~~
The air felt refreshing on my scales as I sped through it, the warm rays of the sun being soothed by the cool breeze that washed over my draconic body. It was a clear and crisp day, perfect for a fun flight across the waters of the Barbaric Archipelago.
This is what unbridled freedom looked like. Being able to go wherever you pleased without anyone telling you otherwise.
I smirked to myself as I decided to stop basking in the wonderful weather and dipped in the air, rolling into a dive towards the pack of Thunderdrums that were swimming below to their next destination. I pulled out of the dive and sped over the water, then shot back into the sky and pulled a daring maneuver here and there as I did so.
I broke through the clouds and tumbled about in the fluffy clouds floating past, my scales gaining drops of water upon them as I passed through each one. I then flew with some Timberjacks that were flying high above in formation, most likely heading to a new island to call their own.
Once I got bored of that, I dived once again with my eyes closed. I purred softly from the feeling of the air rushing past me and the telltale whistling of my wings started up. As I got closer to the water, I splayed out my wings and bolted over the water, disturbing it as I went past from the speed I was going at.
I closed my eyes once more to bask in the exhilarating feeling of freedom, but once I opened them I panicked. I had gotten too close to a sea stack as I was flying with my eyes closed and I could tell that I wouldn't have enough time to dodge it.
At the last second I blasted through the rock with a plasma blast, wrapping myself in my wings as I flew through the newly formed gap as the obliterated pieces of the sea stack rained down around me. Once through that, I crashed into trees on an island that was right ahead of the sea stack, which ended up with me tumbling down the uneven terrain, screeching as I did so as I was trying to come to a stop and finally coming to a rest on a small plateau.
I groaned in pain as I shook out my wings and stood, shaking my head to get rid of the dizziness.
" That came out of nowhere.. " I whined just before transforming into my human form and looking around the newfound area I found myself in. "Huh. Looks like I found a new island though."
" Nice crash landing. " I heard, and I turned to who said that and smiled brightly as my mate landed just a couple feet away from me in her dragon form, but that smile turned into an embarrassed bite of the lip as an embarrassed blush dusted my cheeks, granted she couldn't see my expression thanks to my flight helmet.
"Y-you saw that?"
Kala stifled a laugh with a nod as she made her way over to me. " How is it that whenever you decide to go flying on your own you always end up crashing somehow? "
"I don't know!" I said with a groan as I took my flight helmet off and shook out my hair. "I get too caught up in the moment I guess."
Kala gave me a look and I smiled nervously at her. " You're gonna get severely injured one of these days from your recklessness my love. "
"I know, I know. But I can't help it. It's so exhilarating to be able to fly by myself." I explained as I looked away, but then looked back at her as a small pebble hit my head and I smirked playfully. "Oh, what? Do you want an apology? Is that why you're pouting, big baby boo?" I joked.
Kala huffed and looked to the side with her eyes closed. The smirk on my lips never leaving as she did so.
"Well…try this on!" I shouted as I tackled her with a hug, my helmet falling to the grassy ground of the plateau as I did. I felt her trying not to laugh as I was trying to play fight with her, but it wasn't working too well since I was in human form still. "Ya feeling it yet? Huh? Picking up on all of my heartfelt remorse?"
Kala laughed a bit then stood on her haunches, I slipped a bit but was able to hold on as I dangled from her neck, then she started to make her way somewhere.
"Oh, come on." I groaned as I tried the best I could to not slip off. "You wouldn't hurt a one legged–" I started to say, but then I took notice of where she took us to as she came to a stop. "AHH!"
My grip on Kala tightened as she laughed, not moving from her spot as I dangled from her neck over the edge of a cliff.
"You're right! You're right! You win! You win! I'll be more careful!" I whined and Kala purred triumphantly as she fell backwards. I groaned a bit when we made contact with the ground.
" Thank you. " She said with a triumphant air to her words.
I shook my head with a smile as I got off of her and looked around the island once more, opening a journal that was built into my flight suit on my arm and grabbing the charcoal stick that was tucked away right next to it. I held onto the charcoal stick with my mouth as I dug out the map that Kala and I have been piecing together for the past couple of years now, folding it out on the ground, then I tore out a new piece of parchment and added it to the map before I sketched out the new island once I found out the coordinates.
"So what do we name it?" I asked as I looked towards my mate who was now in human form.
While out flight suits may be similar in style there were definitely some differences. For one, while hers was black and red mine was regular leather and green with some black on the sides from a mixture of Kala and I's scales. The chestplates were the same, but Kala's flight suit did not have anything attached to it for adding to the map like mine did. But other than that our attire was very much like one another's like always.
"How about Autumn Isles?" She recommended as she situated herself next to me on the ground, looking over the map as she did so.
I smiled and nodded in agreement. "That works perfectly." I said as I wrote down the name next to the sketched out island. "You think we might find a few Timberjacks in those woods? The odd Whispering Death or two in the rocks? Who knows…maybe we'll finally track down one of the other Fury species. Wouldn't that be something?"
"Indeed it would, but–" Kala started to say, but was cut off as we heard Hookfang roar at us.
The two of us looked up to see Hookfang and Snotlout heading our way and land a few feet away from us.
"There you are, Hiccup! Where in Thor's name were you dude?! You missed out on the race!" Snotlout complained as he dismounted Hookfang's back and made his way towards us.
"Good to see you, too, Snotlout. I didn't want to participate this time. How'd that go by the way?" I said, looking at Kala as I asked the question.
Kala smirked with pride in her beautiful green eyes. "I won."
"For the fifth time in a row! It's not fair! Every time either of you compete you always win!" The Jorgenson complained with his arms crossed, a pout adorning his features.
I chuckled and shook my head. "Did you just come here to complain to me about Kala beating you at Dragon Racing?"
"No! Well..yes, but–Oh whatever! I thought you were gonna participate this time man. What changed?"
"I just needed some alone time, that's all."
~~~HTLANF~~~
Stoick turned his attention from the hearth to his son as he made his way down the stairs and smiled softly.
"Mornin' son."
"Morning Dad.." A still rather sleepy Hiccup replied, a yawn following afterwards.
Stoick let out a heavy breath that earned a confused look from the young Night Fury in front of him.
"We need to talk, Hiccup."
"Okay?" The boy said as he sat down at the table, looking at his father very confused and a bit worried at this point.
"You're the pride of Berk, son, and I couldn't be prouder. You're all grown up, have a mate that you love dearly as she does you, and since no chief could ask for a better successor, I've decided–" Stoick began, but Hiccup cut him off.
"No." He said firmly.
Stoick's eyes widened out of surprise. "No?"
"Dad, I appreciate that you want me to take over, but I don't want to be chief. I'm not even a Viking anymore. Yes, I'm the pride of Berk, but I'm not fit or even equipped to run the village. I'm a dragon, a Night Fury to be precise. Even if the village is comfortable around me again and there hasn't been any conflicts involving my draconic side, it doesn't mean that they would be happy with the offspring of lightning and death itself leading the tribe. So, thank you, but I'm going to have to decline." Hiccup explained as he stood. "You'll have to find a new heir Dad."
And with that, the boy went back upstairs.
~~~HTLANF~~~
"Yeah, just needed time alone." I added.
Snotlout huffed. "Yeah, well while you were off goofing off, I got my ass kicked by your mate!" He complained as he gestured to Kala who was covering her mouth with a hand as she giggled.
"Not my fault you spent the entire race fawning over Ruffnut like a lovesick Terror." Kala teased.
"I was not!"
"Oh? Then why did you hand her a sheep every time you and Hookfang caught one?" She teased further.
"B-because–UGH!"
I shook my head with a smile and looked around as Kala kept teasing Snotlout about crushing on the female Thorston twin. My eyes widened a bit when I saw darkness far off in the distance. I squinted to get a better look at what it was and my eyes widened yet again when I noticed it was smoke.
"I hate to break up the bickering, but you two may wanna see this." I said as I stood and pointed towards the smoke in the distance.
Kala and Snotlout stopped fighting and looked where I was pointing, their eyes widening as they took notice.
"Is that smoke?"
~~~HTLANF~~~