The Forgotten Haddock: Riders of Berk

Season 2, Chapter 20: Cast Out pt 2

Season 2, Chapter 20: Cast Out pt 2

Walking into the Great Hall to be greeted by a cacophony of shouting Berkians is not the greatest thing. I asked Astrid to go get Hiccup to help answer some of the questions that people have been barraging Gobber for.

Gobber suddenly start pushing to the crowd and loudly proclaims, "Everyone, settle down. Hiccup will answer all your questions."

"Why him?" Snotlout asks as Gobber leads Hiccup and Astrid to the stage.

"Because he's the acting chief. That's why." I respond.

"They're all yours." Gobber whispers to Hiccup.

"Right." Hiccup says.

"What are we gonna do?"

"Where's Stoick?"

"When can we start yelling again?"

That last one was Tuffnut. I should have known.

"Good questions, mostly." Hiccup starts. "Um, as you all know, Berk is no stranger to hard times, but the best thing is to—"

"Take arms!"

"Man the catapults!"

Snotlout takes the stage, pushes Hiccup out of the way and says, "Why don't you step aside and watch a real chief an action? Hookfang?"

Hookfang lights himself on fire and everyone goes quiet.

"That's better." Snotlout says. I hear the familiar sizzling sound as Snotlout continues. "Now, here's how it's gonna go."

There's some chuckling from the villagers and I hear Tuffnut say, "You are on fire, Snotlout."

"Thank you, citizen." Snotlout says, before realizing the double meaning of that statement. "Aah!!!" Snotlout runs and screams, but Gobber picks him up and dumps him in some water.

Hiccup retakes the stage and says, "Okay, Good. So where were we?"

"You were about to tell them that they have nothing to worry about and you have everything under control." Astrid says.

"All right, people, you have nothing to worry about, and everything is under control." Hiccup says.

The villagers all start shouting again, so that didn't work.

"That went much better in my head." Astrid says.

I hear Tuffnut stirring up the crowd. "Yell as loud as you can! Haha, yeah!"

Once we finally finish answering all the questions, Hiccup and I head home. We walk inside and I sit down on the stairs. Hiccup walks over to the table and picks up Dad's axe. The door opens and closes and Gobber walks in.

"You know, Hiccup, there's nothing easy about chiefing." Gobber says. "You should've seen Stoick when he first took over. He was like a newborn yak trying to find his feet."

"I find that hard to believe." Hiccup and I say simultaneously.

Saviour crawls onto my lap and curls up. I subconsciously start stroking him, causing him to purr.

"It's true." Gobber says. "In fact, there were some in this town that didn't think he had it in him. Alvin, for one. He wouldn't shut up about it. Hiccup, being chief doesn't mean everyone's going to be with you. Sometimes you have to deal with the Alvins and Snotlouts of the world."

Hiccup puts down the axe and sits in Dad's chair. "I feel like that's all I do."

"They were best friends, you know."