A New World, Complicated

Chapter 16: The Defiant One (Hiccup)

 The life of a Viking can be difficult, harsh, and stormy. Nobody could make it through alone, and eventually, you're going to have to rely on someone. Unfortunately, we don't always get to pick that someone.

"This is so lame," Snotlout groaned, breaking the focused silence of the formation we had been flying in. "Why are we even out here?" I rolled my eyes as we flew through the grey clouds, indicative of rain.

"Because, this is our first dragon search-and-rescue mission," I retorted, trying to get him to settle down.

"I see a lot of searching, but not much rescuing. Do you even know where we are?" That question stung my pride a little bit.

"My dad said the fishing boat was last seen heading South," I informed him as Reign pulled up beside me. Snotlout made a face like he had been defeated, but quickly wiped it off to throw another insult.

"You don't know what you're talking about. There's nothing down there! I say we go North."

"And if Hiccup said to go North...?" Reign asked him, trying to call Snotlout out for what he was doing. He paused for a moment to try and come up with a response that wouldn't contradict himself.

"Are you trying to mess with my mind? Because nothing gets in here! Nothing!"

"That explains a lot of things..." Reign muttered beside me before focusing back on the job at hand. "What does our map say, Fishlegs?" We turned to look back at the boy as he pulled out the piece of paper. After a few seconds of attempting to read it, the map flew back against his face.

"It's kind of tough to read from this angle."

"You know what, Hiccup? I'm done listening to you! I said North, and North is where I'm going." He yanked on Hookfang's horns to get him to turn around, but the Nightmare remained sturdy in our formation. "Hey! You work for me!" After another yank, Hookfang harshly shot up and turned around.

"Are we just going to let him go?"

"Works for me," Tuffnut scoffed.

I was just going to let him go, fly off North and let him make his way back to Berk when he was unsuccessful. That was, until Reign cleared her throat and shot me a glare that said 'you need to go after him.' That look was one of the few things I couldn't say no to, and I ended up shaking my head.

"Ugh," I groaned. "I'm going, I'm going." I pointed to her. "Lead the others back, we'll get him. Come on, bud." I gently pat Toothless' neck, causing him to turn upward and start us in the opposite direction. Who knows how much time this would set us back, or even if we'd be able to find the fishing boat at this point, but I knew Reign would chew me out if I didn't go back for Snotlout.

The wind was going against our favor, pushing Toothless slightly back with every centimeter we flew. The clouds in the sky were darkening even more as the water below us churned uneasily. Toothless and I finally caught up with Snotlout, but my heart started to pound harder at the sight of a large cyclone right in front of him.

"Wow. Look at the size of that waterspout..." The winds picked up to a dangerous speed, threatening to throw the two of us from our dragons. "That waterspout is way too dangerous!" I called to the rider in front of me.

"That's why I'm flying around it!" he shouted back at me. "Duh!" I shook my head as Snotlout maneuvered his Monstrous Nightmare around the spout.

"You're coming too close!" I warned. "Look out!" A strong stream of wind suddenly got under Hookfang's wings and swept him through the current and closer into the center of the waterspout. If I didn't do something now, he wouldn't make it out of there.