The Haddock Twins: Race to the Edge

Snow Way Out

Disclaimer: I do not own anything from How to train your dragon

Chapter 20: Snow Way Out

Hiccup and Toothless flew high in the sky. The Night Fury was trying on a new Gronckle Iron armour and from the looks of it, he was not comfortable with it because he kept picking at it.

Hiccup noticed this. "Yeah, I hear ya, bud. Wearing metal on skin can be itchy. Trust me, I know." He says this looking at his own metal prosthetic. "But we need to stay focused. There's no margin for error this time. What do you say we go in fast and low? With this new armor and your moves, they won't touch us."

Toothless dove down to fly parallel to the ocean, but he seemed to struggle a little bit due to the extra weight. "I know. It's heavy. Just-" Hiccup suddenly saw a net heading towards them. "Net!" Just as Toothless dodge the net, Hiccup spotted other dangers flying their way. "Hooks! Arrows! Look out!"

Toothless successfully dodged both of them and flew up to try to get more cloud cover. But as he was ascending, pieces of his armour started to fall out. There was one more arrow shot at him, that unfortunately Toothless couldn't dodge and it hit him.

But it didn't pierce him. The arrowhead was actually replaced by a cloth covered sphere that was covered in orange paint, so that when it hit Toothless, it just left an orange splat mark.

"Snotlout! Snotlout! Oi-Oi-Oi!" Snotlout chanted, standing behind a ballista. Fishlegs and Raeda were near him, standing behind a net-launcher and a catapult respectively.

Hiccup sighed. "Nice shot, Snotlout." Then another arrow came at him and hit his shirt, leaving another orange splat mark. "Ahh! Really?"

Snotlout was snickering until Toothless retaliated by firing at the ballista, causing Snotlout to fall and tumble backwards. "Ow!"

(Linebreak)

The sun was setting as the Dragon Riders, minus Astrid because she left for Berk, gathered at the landing pad of the stables.

"Ugh! I really thought we had it this time." Fishlegs said, disappointed that their latest experiment to get a suitable armour for the dragons failed once again.

"On the plus side, this batch of Gronckle Iron armor lasted longer than the last one." Hicca noted, as she scribbled down notes in a journal.

"Yes, but not long enough." Tuffnut said as he and his sister walked out of the stables. "Wait, unless you wanted Hiccup to get shot down."

"Interesting hypothesis, brother." Ruffnut said.

Suddenly the Thorston twins rushed up to Fishlegs.

"Why are you trying to kill Hiccup?!" Tuffnut demanded.

"I'm not trying to kill Hiccup." Fishlegs defended.

"That's exactly what someone trying to kill Hiccup would say." Tuffnut retorted.

"Indeed. We're keeping our eye on you, pal." Ruffnut warned the Ingerman boy.

"Our good eye." Her twin added.

At this point, Fishlegs opted to ignore them and turned to the auburn twins. "So, what do we try next?"

"I think we have to go thinner. That should make it lighter and more flexible." Raeda advised.

"But it won't make it Snotlout-proof. Nothing can. It's a good thing for you guys that I'm on your side." Snotlout commented.

He suddenly got pushed forward by Astrid. "You are? Huh. Honestly, sometimes it's hard to tell." She commented dryly.

"Astrid! You're back from Berk already?" Hiccup said in surprise.