Together we Map the World is a canon and OC forum that takes place directly after the first film left off, behaving as if the series and second film after never happened. With a wealth of locations, dragons, and characters to choose from, the possibilities are endless. What the tides of storytelling will do with these building blocks is up to you. How far will you go?
Somewhere between Berk and their destination, the two cousins had flown into a devastating storm. Against the unforgiving winds and driving rain that blinded you from seeing where they were going, they'd been helpless. Blown so far off course that none of the rock formations or waters looked familiar.
The last thing Hiccup remembered was falling unconscious somewhere in the night, too exhausted and ragged from the rain to keep his eyes open. He hadn't seen where Snotlout had gone down, if he'd gone down at all. They weren't supposed to be gone long, Hiccup had been going stir crazy stuck healing on Berk, he'd been reckless, and now they were paying for it.
Hiccup sat up with a pained groan as he rubbed at his aching head, then his aching back, really everything hurt right now. Once his head stopped spinning and his eyes focused, he gasepd and looked around, first spotting a black form a little ways away from him, then the bodies of Snotlout and Hookfang, "Guys!" He called out, struggling to his feet and fighting the urge to collapse back down as he went to check on each of them in turn.
He was comforted by the fact that they were all breathing and alive, and when Toothless crooned in response to his gentle words, he let out a relieved sigh, "oh thank the gods," he said, then moved to help the dragon steady himself, "lets wake up the other two," he nodded for Toothless to take care of Hookfang while he went to nudge Snotlout, kneeling beside him, "hey...HEY!" He reached a hand to pat his cheeks, "the gods aren't ready to have you yet, wake up!"
Snotlout hadn't exactly been astoundingly eager to go camping with Hiccup again. Though he always loved a chance to prove himself, he had to admit that a deep part of him did care a little - just a little - for Hiccup's well-being, and the idea of his cousin ripping open those gnarly scars without any medical help on hand concerned him. Healing was for wimps like his sister! He didn't know how to stitch up a wound, much less deal with cracked ribs or whatever other issues Hiccup was fighting now.
So, of course, he wasn't exactly thrilled when they'd flown straight into a storm, and he was even less enthused now as he slowly regained consciousness. He groaned and tilted his head away from Hiccup's hand, prying his eyelids open over a period of several seconds.
"Mmmmmwhat..." he groaned. He propped himself up on his elbows and gave Hiccup a pouting glare. His ego was a little fragile now that he'd been singlehandedly bested by nature (which, in his mind, wasn't nearly as strong as a good Viking). "Why are you looking at me like that? I was just taking a nap. Don't give me that look!"
The statement was, of course, rather untrue, but he spat it out anyway. He pulled himself into a sitting position, ignoring the protest of his aching muscles.
When Snotlout grumbled and moved away from his hands, he sat back on his heels with another relieved sigh, rolling his eyes a little at the other viking's insistence that he'd only been napping, "some nap," he commented dryly, getting back to his feet to look around. Toothless was in the middle of nudging the other dragon awake when Hiccup caught sight of something that made his heart sink a little, "oh that's just great," he mumbled, coming around to look over Toothless' tail fin, which was very visibly torn.
"This is fine," he said, even if he didn't really feel it, "I can fix this..." He sounded more sure of that statement, he'd always been pretty proficient with stitching and repairs, less so when in the middle of nowhere, but he'd manage.
He ran a hand over Toothless' nose as he passed him, looking over at Snotlout, "well, we're tired, wet, and completely and utterly lost," he rolled his eyes with a scoff, "we're just oozing luck," he made another dry comment before he shrugged off his furry and absolutely drenched vest to ring it out, "I guess we should get our bearings, see what this island has to offer..." Stay positive, he told himself, things could always be worse.
"Right," Snotlout said with a huff. He brushed his fingers over his chest, echoing over the places that ached. His throat felt torn, like he'd been yelling too loud, and his body felt like it'd been crushed by a Gronckle and then set on fire. He dropped his hand to the ground when Hiccup looked back and made a spectacle of himself getting back onto two feet.
Hookfang made a gurgling growl and pulled himself up as well, hissing at the sky - and then at Snotlout, just for good measure. When he felt like he'd made himself heard, he trotted closer to Snotlout and nudged his rider a bit.
"I'm fine, Hookie." Snotlout found his balance again and made sure to puff his chest out in mock confidence. "Are you?"
The Nightmare snorted and leveled his chin, eyes glittering with stubbornness.
Snotlout rubbed his head affectionately. "I knew you were."
"Bearings? Yeah, guess that'd help," said Snotlout, now re-focusing on Hiccup. "Hookfang could probably fly over the island if he really wanted to, but he needs his beauty rest, y'know? So I guess we're on foot."
Both Hiccup and Toothless seemed to give a relieved sigh in unison when Hookfang finally gurgled back to life, glad that at least they were all safe, even if the current predicament was less than favorable, "well, we're all in one piece at least, I suppose it could be worse," he said with a shrug, they could both have broken bones, or worse.
He tapped his chin as he paced a little, trying to think of the best way to go about doing this, "yeah, I don't think anyone is fit to fly right now, we're gonna have to rest ourselves up before we can even thing of making our way back home," he sighed and looked apologetically towards Toothless, "and I have to find something to repair his tail with," he rubbed at his chin, "so...How about we each take a half of the island to scout out?" He suggested, looking thoughtful.
"We need to find food, water, shelter, and we need to make sure there's nothing here that's going to cause even more trouble," he ran a hand through his hair with an exasperated sigh, "I guess I'll take the western side, you take the east? We'll meet back here, sound good?" He said this like he was clearly inviting Snotlout to voice any ideas or qualms he had, looking at him expectantly.
"I have an idea," he said; a blatant lie. There was an awkward pause as the gears in his head shook off rust and turned. "Let's, uh, stick together. We don't know what's on this island, and while I'm sure I could handle it, I'm not sure if you could." At this, Hookfang shot him an offended look. Truth be told, while Snotlout knew that Toothless was more than capable, he did feel better about Hiccup's safety if he was within earshot.
Hiccup could only raise a brow at Snotlout's insistence that they stay close together, but the underhanded jab at his abilities to take care of himself made the statement less appreciated, "what would I do without you," he said dryly, then shrugged and looked over at Toothless, "you're right though, I guess staying together is better when we don't know anything about this island..." He conceded, they knew nothing about the dragons that lived in these parts or what might call this place home. He'd already had one close call being out by himself after all.
Toothless seemed content with this as well, he'd failed to protect Hiccup against Beartrap, he wouldn't fail a second time. Hiccup ran an affectionate hand over Toothless' head before he gesture for them to head out, starting at the Western portion of the island.
The land as they left the shore and drew further inland quickly went from beach, to forest, to a thick and foreboding swampy bog. Hiccup's nose wrinkled at the smell, "smells worse than Ruff and Tuff's hut..." He said, lifting his shirt to cover his nose against the musty smell of rotting swamp muck.
Snotlout curled his nose in agreement with Hiccup, and even Hookfang looked disgusted. The swamp's stench clung to the clothes, obscured their former scent - a nuisance for humans, but a boon for things hiding in the swamp.
As it so happened, one such thing was hiding there now.
Tektite, a Lycanwing, was scouring the swamps, belly grazing the tepid, mushy ground. The land had proved bountiful in food at first, but it was beginning to run dry as the dragon population dwindled. Soon enough, they'd have to find another place to live. Still, it was better than nothing, and if they could establish a roundabout series of islands to hunt in, they'd be very well off.
Hunger had roused them from their resting place before the sun set properly. It was foggy out, true, and sometime mid-afternoon, which would have to be good enough. They'd caught the scent of dragons and humans just a little earlier, blown in from the shoreline.
It was good that they smelled as foul as the swamp; the dragons hopefully wouldn't catch onto it.
Snotlout, meanwhile, had begin to stray from Hiccup, away from where Tektite lurked.
There was a kind of hush over the swamp that Hiccup found entirely to unnerving, but he kept it to himself, it was the uncomfortable feeling of not being alone, he could tell that Toothless felt the same. The fog was far too thick here, too smothering, and it wasn't until a few minutes of uncomfortable silence that he realized Snotlout had wandered off at some point.
"So much for sticking together," he said with a soft grumble, not wanting to admit that he was actually kind of creeped out right now. There was something about this place that was setting off all those instinctive alarm bells that anything possessed. He looked to Toothless to see if he looked like he was smelling or hearing anything, but while the dragon looked uneasy, he didn't look like he'd caught a scent, "this swamp is creepy," he said, voicing his thoughts out loud, the Night Fury gave a croon in reply, a sound of agreement, and Hiccup chuckled a little, pressing on deeper into the swamp and the fog.
Tektite slunk closer. The intruding dragon, smartly, was wary - glaring to and fro, jumping a little at shapes in the mist. He would be a filling meal, but difficult to get the jump on.
The human, however...
Tektite focused his gaze on the lanky human and scrutinized him closely. He was small, little more than a snack or toothpick, but was going to be much easier to catch; Tektite wasn’t starving. His venom wouldn’t kill the thing, but given how scrawny and unprotected his flesh was, it would make for an easy target.
A glint in the fog revealed that the dragon’s tail was damaged. Tektite wasn’t sure why the dragon looked to be defending the human when the bizarre contraption was so obviously of human make, but it was a mystery that the Lycanwing cared little for. If the dragon couldn’t escape, then all the better.
Pausing to crouch, Tektite sized up their target one last time, then sprung into action, leaping out of the bushes with little sound. They flared out their wings to reveal their bright blood-red coloring and hit the ground running.
Their fangs were primed to bite by the third footfall. It was going to be an easy mark - or so they thought.
Hiccup's eyes widened when he saw a flash of movement out of his peripheral, turning just in time to see a horrifying red display of something in the fog. Despite himself he found himself frozen to the spot, and it was Toothless who in the end saved him from being bitten, making a swift motion to pick the boy up and dash out of the way with a furious warning roar. He wasn't going to have Hiccup hurt again, he would not fail a second time.
Hiccup was dazed as he sat on the back of the dragon facing behind them where he'd landed when Toothless tossed him up there. He could still see the figure, but he was fairly sure they weren't being followed. Still, it took him a bit to feel safe turning to face the right way, "find Snotlout!" He called out, finally finding his voice.
It didn't take Toothless long to sniff out the Monstrous Nightmare and his rider, and when he did he took a leap off Toothless the moment the dragon stopped, "we need to get out of this swamp!" He said, eyes darting around with a paranoid prickle in his skin, "something just tried to attack us in the fog... It was...I don't know what it was...But it was big and not friendly!" He sounded panicked, fearful, something that he didn't usually feel, Hiccup was a brave person, but whatever had been in the fog had shaken him.
Tektite skidded into the bushes, missing the human by a hair. They chose to skitter off to a safe distance instead of doubling back - the dragon was quicker than they thought, and now paranoid to boot. Rest, recuperate, as the old saying went - they'd get their prey next time.
Snotlout, meanwhile, had been picking his way along the edge of the island, near a place where the swamp met sea. He was close enough to hear Toothless's shout, which sent himself and Hookfang into a sprint towards the sound. They met Hiccup and Toothless somewhere in the middle.
Usually, Snotlout would've mocked Hiccup for showing such fear, but he had to admit that the swamp was a little off-putting as well (hence why he stayed near the shore).
"Uh - okay!" he said after a brief pause, straightening his spine a little too fast and adjusting his helmet. "Let's go. I found a small cave by the shore, I'll lead you there."
He broke into a brisk, stilted jog, as eager as ever to leave the murky, obscuring mists.
Hiccup had never seen or heard of any dragon that fit the description of what he'd seen in the swamp, and not knowing what it was only served to put him more on edge. Toothless seemed to share his rider's anxiety as he eagerly followed close on Snotlout's heels, eyes darting around with still-narrowed pupils. The smell was foreign even to the traveled Night Fury, and he was on edge now that he knew that there was something lurking on this island. Something horrible.
The smaller viking was glad when they got to the cave that Snotlout had found, collapsing on the ground in a relieved heap to have secure walls around them, "thank the gods, this will make a perfect shelter while we figure out how to get off this island," he commented, sitting up and looking over at his cousin, "I don't know what tried to attack us, but we need to be careful," he got back to his feet to go and fish in one of Toothless' saddle bags, pulling out one of his notebooks.
"It was huge, I didn't get a good look at it, but it looked massive and red..." He explained, trying to recall what he'd seen as he scribbled out a rough drawing. Not knowing what it looked like was a problem, but he figured he could at least give the others an idea of what to look out for, "it was also quiet, and really fast...Just...Be careful when exploring, okay?" He looked up at the other viking, clearly shaken and concerned.
Snotlout sat facing the cave's exit, watching the sky slowly dim. He very much wanted to guess at the dragon species and out-school his cousin in dragon knowledge, but he knew far too well that that wasn't a realm he excelled in. Instead, he opted for sagging into Hookfang's side and brushing the Nightmare's snout with his hand.
"Careful. Got it. Hookie'll keep us safe, right?" Hookfang, who'd started to purr as Snotlout scratched his chin, let out an auspicious grunt. "Whatever it is, it's no match for us!" Snotlout relaxed a little, soothed by his own courageous words. Still, his strain seemed to show a little too much in his smile.
Hiccup let out an annoyed little grumble, smudging away one detail to add in another. He was mostly going off of memory, and that memory had been of a half blurred figure while he was being scooped up and carried off by Toothless. He put the butt end of the charcoal in his mouth, looking pensive, "Fishlegs might know more when we get home, he's a walking dragon encyclopedia," he chuckled, for as proud as Hiccup was in the areas he excelled, he was also not so proud that he couldn't admit that he didn't know how to identify dragons the way his friend could. That was fact.
"Good." He said, getting to his feet, "because I'm going with Toothless to look for whatever that was," he announced, looking confident and sure of his decision. Sure, it was dumb, sure, he'd only just recovered from almost dying once before, but really, he was curious to a fault that there was something out there they knew nothing about. And he wanted to bring home information on it to share, if nothing else came from this ill fated trip.
He turned back to Snotlout and Hookfang with a wry sort of smile, "you can stay here, or come with me," he offered, but didn't wait for Snotlout to decide what he was going to do before he started out the cave, Toothless close in tow. He was annoyed, at least a bit, by his rider's foolhardy bravery. He'd only just nearly lost him, and here he was rushing into danger's jaws again. It was a tiring job being this boy's dragon, but a role he supposed he wouldn't trade for anything else.
