A New World, Complicated

Chapter 25: Race to Fireworm Island (Reign)

 I looked toward the sky in concern as the figure of a boy on his weary dragon came into view through the cloud cover. He let out a victorious cry before swooping down just above our heads, forcing all of us to duck.

"What is with him?" Hiccup asked, a hint of annoyance in his voice.

"I heard that ever since Alvin and the Whispering Deaths attacked, he's been training non-stop," I sighed.

"I heard he's been flying all night for the past week," Fishlegs added.

"Yeah? Well I heard Gothi can de-bone a yak just by looking at it." We all turned to look at the twins, wildly confused.

"I heard if you sit on a Terrible Terror, you can make flames come out of your-" I decided to cut Ruffnut off before things went too far.

"Whoa! What does that have to do with Snotlout?" They looked at the rest of us with that expression that indicated they just caught on; an expression they wore far too often.

"Oh. I thought we were playing the 'I heard' game. And, by the way, Terrible Terror thing? Totally true. I tried it."

Snotlout landed on the beach, finally deciding to take a break from the thousands of laps he'd just forced Hookfang to endure. The poor Monstrous Nightmare collapsed as soon as he hit the sand, unable to keep himself upright any longer.

"That's right!" Snotlout shouted. "You just saw what you just saw." He kissed both of his biceps as though he'd accomplished something great, and I rolled my eyes.

"Snotlout, Hookfang looks pretty tired," Hiccup observed. "You might be pushing him too hard."

"You say pushing, I say challenging. Hookfang doesn't rest-- he's a warrior, and we warriors live for the thrill of battle. It's like my dad always says."

"Take a bath, Snotlout?" I joked.

"Rip your tongue out, Snotlout?"

"Stick your head up a yak's-"

"No! No, none of those!" he interjected. "He says 'rest is for the weak'." Everyone went silent and just stared at him. Sure, I wouldn't expect anything less out of Spitelout, but that 'advice' wasn't only stupid, it was dangerous.

"And let's all thank Snotlout for that inspirational speech," Hiccup deadpanned.

"You're welcome. Now, let's get on with this exercise." Hookfang managed to pick his head up, but his tongue hung out of his mouth and his breath remained labored-- a clear sign he needed a break. "Unless you guys are too tired." The two of them took off again, and I leaned down against Shriek, propping myself up with my elbow.

"I can name something I'm tired of," Astrid hissed.

"We should follow him," I proposed. "Just in case something happens to Hookfang. I'm less concerned about Snotlout."

I sat up straight again, and Hiccup led the rest of us in catching up with Snotlout. I knew he wanted to say something to try and dispel how annoyed I was right now, but at the same time, that was always a risk. Even I never knew whether I'd take the bait, or just start yelling. So, instead, we all just fell into formation and waited for Hiccup to relay today's training exercise.

"Okay, guys. Alvin wants Berk for himself, and now, he has dragons. If he can train them to fight, we'll have to battle dragon riding Outcast soldiers up here."

"Up where?" I slowly turned to look at Tuffnut, genuinely confused as to how he could be this stupid.

"Here." I wildly gestured my arms around to every point of empty space. "In the sky. On-on your dragon."