It had been a few weeks since the riders returned to Berk. There was a huge welcoming party that lasted two days in a row upon their arrival home. But now that everything seemed back to normal, boredom was beginning to set in for the destruction-loving twins.
In fact, they were just about to start causing mischief when Hiccup called for all of the riders to meet in the arena.
"What's this all about?" Snotlout complained, "Hookfang and I were having our afternoon nap."
"And that's why we're here," Hiccup explained with a smile.
Tuffnut and his sister exchanged a look of confusion. "We're here because Snotlout takes afternoon naps?"
Hiccup sighed and refraised, "no, because we're all getting bored. I wanted to ask you guys to come on a mission with me."
"What kind of mission?" Astrid asked.
Hiccup took a deep breath and began to explain, "Toothless and I were out flying yesterday, and I guess we went a little farther than we thought--"
"Ugh, can you just get the the point?" Ruffnut rolled her eyes.
Hiccup frowned, but decided to shorten his story. "We found a new island," he told them, "and I made myself wait so that we could all go check it out together."
"Oh, how interesting," Fishlegs exclaimed, "I wonder what kind of dragons we'll find."
Everyone's eyes lit up, and Hiccup grinned in satisfaction, "alright, we'll leave as soon as we're all ready."
Within the hour, the riders were in the sky. Tuffnut couldn't have been more excited; he loved exploring new places. The only thing he hated about the trip was..
"Hey, Ruffnut," Snotlout called, "watch this." He then flew Hookfang around and made a heart out of smoke.
Both twins cringed as the viking blew a kiss to Ruff. She stuck her tongue out in disgust, "I think I'm gonna be sick."
"You're sick?" Fishlegs swooped in out of nowhere, "I could give you a list of herbs that'll help you feel better."
Ruffnut rolled her eyes as Fishlegs began to blabber on about healing herbs. Tuffnut also rolled his eyes, but not exactly for the same purpose. It was bad enough that he had to deal with Hiccup and Astrid doing coupley things all the time, but now Fishlegs and Snotlout fighting over his sister? Everywhere he went, he would find himself stuck in a hexagon of gushy romance, and he hated it.
He just wasn't sure if he hated it because it was annoying, or if he was jealous. No one had ever shown interest in him that way, and that fact brought his mood down sometimes.
"Oh my Thor, is that the island?" Fishlegs gasped after a while of flying.
Hiccup nodded and smiled proudly, "I was thinking of calling it Crescent Island."
⇧ The new island ⇧
The island did, indeed, resemble a crescent moon. "That's perfect," Astrid approved.
"Woah," Snotlout was in awe, "this place looks like paradise!"
The five dragons landed on one of the points of the crescent. Hiccup whipped out his spy glass and began looking around. Everyone else started to look explore the area around them.
"The ground is some sort of crumbly rock formation," Fishlegs observed as he broke a piece off the surface and crushed it in his hand with ease.
Tuff furrowed his eyebrows and put his hands on his hips as he looked down, "no, I'm pretty sure it's sand."
"Not that," with a sigh, Fishlegs pointed to the darker ground, "this."
"Oh," Tuffnut responded before defending himself, "you should've been more specific."
"Guys, come over here," Hiccup called, still staring through his spy glass across the large pool.
Astrid was the first to make it over to him, "what is it?"
Hiccup pulled the spy glass away for a moment as squinted his eyes, then placed it back over his right eye. "I see something flying over there," he explained, "but I don't think it's a dragon."
"Flying yak rats?!" Tuff asked excitedly.
Hiccup ignored him and handed Astrid the glass. She gasped slightly when she saw what he'd seen. "Are those people?"
"Oh great," Snotlout spoke sarcastically, "another tribe of flying people that are gonna try to eat us."
"Snotlout, the wing maidens were never going to eat you," Astrid explained as she handed the spy glass to Fishlegs, "it was all a misunderstanding, remember?"
"..Shut up, Astrid," Snotlout muttered.
Fishlegs then looked through the glass. "Yeah, those are people, for sure," he confirmed. After a minute longer, he spoke again, "but I don't think they're actually flying...they only seem to be going down. Maybe gliding."
Tuffnut had gotten bored of the conversation as soon as it began and decided to walk to a nearby forest. The trees weren't very tall, and there weren't very many of them. However, the further he went, the thicker the woods became.
"Huh?" He hummed when he notice a large footprint on the ground. It was round with four short talon marks. But before he had time to react, a dragon leapt out from behind a bush, growling viciously and closing in on him.