Digital Daisy

Battles raged on the decks of the ships below, the sounds of war cries and dragon roars floating up to meet Hiccup’s ears, winds whipped mercilessly around them and threatened to send them falling to meet the choppy waves below, as he stood facing the man who claimed he could, and would, rid the world of everything Hiccup had ever cared about.

After a rather long game of chase through the skies on some poor, unsuspecting, drugged dragons, the two opposing leaders had ended up alone on the main deck of Grimmel’s largest airship, a large octagon shaped monstrosity held up by a series of chains and winches connected to eight harnessed Deathgrippers.

Hiccup was on his own now, and, from the sounds of things below, it seemed that there would be no backup this time. No Toothless, no Dad, no Gobber, no Astrid or Snotlout or Fishlegs or Twins...

Contrary to popular belief, Hiccup was not as much of a loner as people made him out to be. He had always had his friends by his side, for almost every battle he had ever gone into. It had been what drew their ragtag team together in the first place. But this... this was a fight he would go into on his own.

The man before him now had threatened everything Hiccup ever held dear. He was used to villains saying such things—every one he had faced before had threatened something or someone he loved, and threats against dragon-kind in general where common place. But this poacher had the gall to stand there and threaten, not only his best friend, but his team, his family, his village, and his home.

Needless to say: Hiccup Horrendous Haddock the third was furious, and Grimmel the Grisly was going down.

No one threatened those under his protection and got away with it.

The pale man now stood in the center of his ship, not bothering to disguise his smugness, chest puffed and head held high. You’d think by looking at the guy that he had already won and was just waiting to be crowned king of the world.

“Now, Hiccup, look around you! This foolishness must end sometime, no?” he yelled over the roar of the wind.

“Yeah, it does!” Hiccup shouted back, And soon... things were not looking good on either side down below, the Riders and other Berkians were putting up a strong fight, being well versed in the art of taking on an enemy bigger than themselves, but the amount of ships the warlords possessed easily dwarfed Drago’s army by tenfold. They were at a stalemate, and if the tides did not turn to one side’s favour soon... no one would win.

“Stop fighting! You could never hope to beat me! Relinquish your dragons, and perhaps I will go easy on you! The world will be a better place, where humans can live in peace without those beasts to ruin everything!”

As Grimmel delivered his speech, Hiccup glanced around, hoping to spot something, anything, he could use to his advantage.

“You have never faced the likes of me, and if you knew my reputation, you would never have dared to cross me in the first place, boy,” the poacher spat. “You are nothing.”

There. The hinges that attached the chains to the lower mechanisms holding the deck in place... together, they made the ship strong and stable, even if one or two were compromised, the rest would hold the weight of the airship well enough, equally distributed so that the dragons keeping it aloft could carry its weight... but if he could manage to loosen them all just enough, the deck would seperate from the chain harnesses, releasing the Deathgrippers and sending them plummeting. The dragons would not make any move to catch the ship and save their ‘master’ either, having been too drugged out of their senses to react to anything.

The key was to loosen each chain to the point that they appeared to be perfectly intact until the last possible moment, and keep Grimmel occupied so he wouldn’t notice.

Hiccup drew Inferno and extended the blade, inserted a fresh canister of Monstrous Nightmare gel, clicked the lighter on the handle to ignite the sword with a steady, dripping flame, and twirled it in his right hand, seemingly nonchalant, before he began to circle his opponent.

“You really think so Grimmel?” he said, his voice low and dangerous. Each step positioned him closer to the chains, but Grimmel was preoccupied watching his face and sword, taking his attention away from anything else Hiccup did. “Well, let me tell you this: you are by no means the worst I’ve ever seen. I have faced...

“...Bigger...”

A giant that dwarfed his entire village, bursting forth from the depths of a fabled nest. Ancient, corrupted, and decaying. A roar that still haunted his dreams to this day, he could still feel flames from it’s fire licking at his back, his arms, legs, all around him before being wrapped up tightly in wings as black as night and falling back to the earth.

“Meaner...”

A man, seven feet tall and broad shouldered with a prominent beard, dark and course. As treacherous as they come. Cruel and nasty in every sense, but a friend regained.

“Crazier...”

A boy, not yet a man. A true berserker if there ever was one. Obsessed with gaining glory and desperate to prove himself strong. Claiming to be his brother... and then proving to be one years later.

“Stronger...”

A Hunter who knew dragons well, able to smell a Nadder from ten feet away and distinguish a dragon’s weaknesses and habits in moments. Imposing, a pillar of brute strength, unstoppable.

“Faster...”

An Arabian mercenary, quick on his feet and unashamedly cruel. Riding atop a large, red Singetail and viewing himself above all others.

“More ruthless...”

The cheerful, friendly face of a buffoonish merchant who always had a story to tell morphed into the cold and calculating sneer of a traitor. Hiccup wished he could say he saw that one coming... maybe it would have hurt less.

“More fierce...”

A man, if one could even call him human anymore, lost to the world and furious. Making even mighty chiefs tremble at his mighty dragon army. Nothing short of ruling the world would satisfy him.

One more chain, just one more. Hiccup loosened the hinge and, in the same instant, switched Inferno to his dominant left hand. No longer restraining the triumph from his expression, he smirked.

“...And smarter.”

A suave businessman, leader of an empire, and the first enemy to truly shake Hiccup to his core. He never had just one trick up his sleeve; he played with a deck full of wildcards, living life like it was a game and he knew the rules. Seeing dragons and people as mere pawns.

The last time Hiccup had seen him, he had four arrows in his back, more scars than skin on his face, and a smile on his lips as he turned to meet his end with a dragon, not under his foot, but by his side...

Grimmel’s eyes widened, and the smugness fell away, his face twisting into an ugly sneer as the realisation of what Hiccup had just done dawned on him. “You fool!” he snapped, venomously, “You will send us both to our deaths?!”

“I know exactly what I’ve done.” As he said it, Hiccup heard echoes of all those he had faced before in his own cool and collected voice.

Was this what a man became when pushed to the very edge and forced to look down? Was he finally turning into them?

The pale poacher roared in fury and launched himself at the young chief. He managed to knock Hiccup’s sword from his hand and the two grappled and struggled, both trying to gain the upper hand. The platform that served as their stage hung in the air by little more than a thread that weakened with every movement.

To his advantage, Hiccup had a strength that few but those closest to him were aware of, but Grimmel had years of experience on his side. As they fought, Hiccup heard the faint sounds of cheering from below, accompanied by roars of victory from the dragons, quickly becoming deafening even from this distance.

They had won.

Years of familiarity allowed Hiccup to make out the almost imperceptible sounds of his friends and their dragons cheering alongside all the rest. They had survived, just as he had known they would. They hadn’t needed him—they had all grown so much over the years. He was so proud of his team... of his family.

In his rage, Grimmel managed to overcome Hiccup, forcing the Rider back until he held him by the front of his armour, dangling over the edge of the airship’s deck. It wasn’t an ideal position but it did grant him a clear view of what was once the warlords armada of ships, now reduced to smouldering, mangled heaps of wood and metal, his people all on dragons that flew free once again.

Amongst the flurry of colour, he caught sight of a singular black form rocketing towards them, desperate and determined. Before he could call out to his closest friend, Grimmel spun him around and shoved him towards the center of the platform.

The impact of his body hitting the deck was the last movement needed to finally seperate the dragons’ chains from the hinges...