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Astrid let out a rage-filled scream as she swung her axe at Snotlout with all her might. A high-pitched scream resonated around the arena as Snotlout cowered in fear beneath Astrid. Before the blade could connect with skin, a purple blast knocked the axe from Astrid’s hand. Hiccup stood watching the whole scene beside Toothless, whose mouth was suspiciously smoking. Snotlout let out a sigh of relief. Astrid gave Hiccup an annoyed glare.
“Alright, I think that’s enough sparring for today.” Hiccup said with a hint of amusement.
Astrid scowled at Hiccup, clearly frustrated, but backed off. Snotlout took the chance to quickly stand up and try to act casual about the whole situation. “Hah, yeah, I was just about to say the same thing.” Astrid glared at Snotlout.
“It’s about time for dinner,” Hiccup announced. “Let’s get Fishlegs and head to the clubhouse.”
“What about the twins?” Astrid queried.
“They said that they wanted to cook.”
“Wha- And you just let them?!?” Snotlout exclaimed, horrified.
“Well, I figured that we have enough food that if the twins do their typical twins shenanigans, we could make something else for ourselves,” Hiccup explained, if not a bit sheepishly.
Snotlout rolled his eyes dramatically to show his displeasure. “Oh yeah? And who’s gonna cook? Not me again after the twins’ mess. Do you know how much food I’ve had to throw away because those two have never heard of cross-contamination?!”
“I can cook.” Astrid offered.
“No!” Hiccup and Snotlout protested at the same time, both looking terrified. Astrid gave them a confused look. Hiccup immediately backtracked. “I mean- you’re probably really tired from all that training and you need to let yourself rest!” Hiccup said with a nervous laugh while Snotlout aggressively nodded behind him.
Astrid still looked a bit confused, but shrugged it off. Hiccup and Snotlout looked at each other and let out a sigh of relief.
“Fishlegs can cook if the twins have gotten into their usual shenanigans,” Hiccup compromised.
“Fine.” Snotlout spat. “But if we don’t get to eat tonight, it’s on your butt.”
“Yeah, okay. Fair enough.” Hiccup agreed as the group began making their way towards Fishlegs’s hut.
At Fishlegs’s hut, Fishlegs was carefully tending to his garden as Meatlug snored peacefully beside him.
“Wow, Fishlegs, your garden is looking good!” Said the impressed voice of Hiccup from behind Fishlegs.
“I know!” Fishlegs exclaimed enthusiastically as he turned to greet the approaching riders, “I’ve been experimenting with different feeding and watering patterns to optimize the growth and yield of different vegetables! If I can just figure out the best type of fertilizer for each-”
“Bo-ring,” Fishlegs glared as he was cut off by Snotlout. “Look, Ruff and Tuff are cooking, and it’s about time to eat. Are you coming or not, Fishface?”
“The twins are cooking?” Fishlegs asked with a look of surprise, looking to Hiccup for an explanation.
“Yeah, they seemed really intent on it. I doubt I could have stopped them even if I wanted to,” Hiccup explained.
“Well, this seems like the perfect opportunity to use the new vegetables from my garden!” Fishlegs exclaimed enthusiastically before catching himself and backtracking. “I mean- only if we can’t eat what the twins make…”
“Wait- you mean you actually eat that stuff?” Snotlout asked with a horrified look on his face. He was met with many confused looks.
“The twins cooking?” Hiccup asked.
“No, vegetables!”
There was a pause of silence before Fishlegs confusedly responded, “Snotlout, I don’t eat meat.”
“WHAT?!?”
“This is new information to you?” Hiccup asked, confused, but also a bit disappointed.
“Uh, yeah?! How was I supposed to know he was a vegetarian??”
Hiccup blinked, trying to tell if Snotlout was joking or not. One look at the other Viking’s face told him that it was not in fact a joke. “Snotlout, we’ve literally eaten dinner together every single night for our entire lives. How are you just now realizing this?”
“Oh my Thor, everything makes sense now…” Snotlout whispered to himself before backing away and pointing at Fishlegs. “You keep your gross eating habits away! I do not want to end up like you! I’m like- the opposite of vegetarian! I’m anti-vegetarian!”
“Oh, will you stop yapping already??” Astrid snapped, grabbing Snotlout by the ear and pulling him away
“Ow! Ow! I’m sorry! Astrid, that hurts! ASTRID!” The Viking complained as he was dragged away.
When the group arrived at the clubhouse, the twins were waiting for them outside.
“Bienvenue!” Tuffnut greeted. He had a cartoonish mustache drawn above his lip, which somehow made him look a bit more professional than usual.
“Welcome!” Ruffnut echoed Tuffnut’s greeting. She also had a drawn-on mustache.
“Au Le Petit Poisson!”
“The best restaurant in all of the archipelago and beyond!”
The riders watched the twins with confused and surprised expressions.
“Le huh?” Snotlout asked, confused. He let out a startled yelp when the twins appeared on both sides of him out of nowhere.
“Le Petit Poisson,” Tuffnut repeated as Ruffnut nodded her head in agreement. “It’s our new restaurant.” She smirked.
“There is no way that I am eating somewhere that has the word poison in the name.“ Snotlout declared, crossing his arms.
“It means fish. Duh.” Snotlout shrank in on himself as Ruffnut got all up in his face. The male Viking grumbled at her response but didn’t say anything.
“This is great and all,” Hiccup interjected, “but where’s the food?”
Tuffnut patted Hiccup’s shoulder. “Ah, I’m glad you asked, mon ami. This way.” The twins opened the door to the clubhouse and invited the rest of the riders inside.
The interior of the clubhouse was almost unrecognizable. There were many tables with lots of places to sit. Each table had a small candle that was lit in the center. The riders all marveled at the place.
“Sientate,” Tuffnut told them. “Wait, no, that’s Spanish. S’asseoir.”
All of them, except Ruff and Tuff, sat down at a table together.
“It smells amazing in here!” Astrid commented with a smile. The others nodded in agreement.
“We have quite the array of food options available.” Said Ruffnut.
“Including a vegan meal just for you, my friend.” Added Tuffnut addressing Fishlegs.
“Oh, come on!” Snotlout shrieked, “How did you two know Fishface over here is vegetarian?!?”
The twins looked at each other a bit confused before looking back at Snotlout. “Uh… Dude, we’ve literally eaten every single dinner with him for our entire lives.” Tuffnut responded while Ruffnut nodded in confirmation.
Snotlout scoffed. “Whatever.”
“And now, may I present to you…” Ruffnut pulled out a plate of food while Tuffnut did the introduction in a perfect replication of a French accent. “Your food.”
All the riders stared at the food in awe. It truly looked delicious, even comparing to the likes of something that Heather would make. Since her departure, the riders had been taking turns cooking, but none of the food ever came close to what Heather made for them.
“Wow, you two, I’m really impressed!” Hiccup told them as they set out the food.
“Ha, when aren’t you?” Tuffnut smirked.
Hiccup decided that it was best that he didn’t answer.
Snotlout rubbed his hands together, getting ready to tear into the food in front of him. “Thor, I am so hungry. I cannot wait to-“
“Ah, ah, ah.” Tuffnut cut Snotlout off. “Before you eat, you must show that you are able to pay.”
It was silent for a few seconds as the dragon riders processed what had just been said before all hell broke loose.
“What?!?” Fishlegs exclaimed, quickly standing up from his seat
“Pay?!?” Snotlout shrieked
Astrid was speechless with a look of shock and disgust covering her face.
“Oh boy…” Hiccup muttered to himself, holding the bridge of his nose in exasperation.
“What do you mean ‘pay’?!? All the food that you used to cook came from the reserves!!” Snotlout shouted furiously, throwing his arms around for emphasis.
The twins opened their mouths to respond, but an angry Astrid beat them to it. “I hate to agree with Snotlout, but he’s right! We all had a hand in gathering food for the reserves!”
“And not only that, but the vegetables that you used came from my garden!” Fishlegs shouted.
“What?!? You put vegetables in this?!?” Snotlout shrieked, horrified. “I knew you were trying to poison me!”
“FAIRE TAIRE!!!” Tuffnut screeched.
The room went silent.
“There will be no arguing in Le Petit Poisson! This place was created to bring people together! Food lovers… other food lovers… despite our differences, we can still love each other!!!” Tuffnut monologued passionately.
“Tuffnut, that is not the problem.” Hiccup said, still holding the bridge of his nose, unable to comprehend the sheer absurdity of the whole situation.
“Oh,” Tuffnut said before a look of confusion crossed his face. “Then what’s the problem?”
“The problem,” Hiccup started before any of the other riders could voice their anger, “is that you two used the food reserves to cook and you want us to pay!”
“If you have an issue, you can take it up with the chef!” Ruffnut said with her hands on her hips. She made a quick gesture with her head towards the kitchen, where Barf and Belch watched the scene with a glare at the riders.
“You know what, maybe I will!!” Snotlout began stomping over to the dragons. It didn’t even take 2 seconds before the small Viking sprinted back in the opposite direction, screaming as a bright green gas began to fill the room.
“Everyone, out!” Hiccup exclaimed in horror. The riders, except for the twins, scrambled out of the clubhouse.
“And stay out!” Ruffnut shouted after them before slamming the door shut in their face. And just like that, it was just them. With the rest of the dragon riders gone, it was quiet. The twins looked at each other awkwardly.
“Soooo…” Tuffnut started. “What do we do with all this uneaten food?” He asked. The twins looked at each other for a second before smirking.
“Ughhhhhhhh. I can’t believe we got kicked out.” Snotlout complained sadly. “And that food looked good too… But don’t tell the twins I said that.” The Viking crossed his arms with a pout.
“It’s okay,” Hiccup said, trying to take back control of the situation. “I took this into account when the twins asked to cook.”
The other riders looked at him incredulously.
“You knew that they would charge us to eat?” Astrid asked.
“Well… no. But I had a feeling that something might go wrong.”
The other riders didn’t say anything, but Hiccup could tell they were judging him.
“Point is, we should still have enough food in the reserves to make ourselves dinner.”
Still no response and more judgmental stares.
“The twins couldn’t have used all of the food from the reserves, right?”
“The reserves are gone. The twins took all the food from the reserves,” Hiccup said in shock as he took in the empty room in front of them.
“Oh, come on!” Snotlout shouted, throwing his arms in the air.
Fishlegs made a noise of concern as he fidgeted with his hands.
“What did I tell you!?” Snotlout exclaimed, “I told you it was a terrible idea to let the twins cook! But did you listen?? NoOOoO!”
“Snotlout, you’re not helping.” Hiccup snapped.
“Hiccup, what are we going to do now?” Fishlegs asked worriedly.
Hiccup was lost in thought and did not respond.
“I have some leftovers from some food I made the other day.” Astrid offered.
“No!” Hiccup shouted. Astrid narrowed her eyes. “I mean- there’s probably not enough for everyo-“
“There is.”
Hiccup was left speechless for a second. He struggled to find an appropriate response that would satisfy Astrid.
“Y-yes, but if we eat the leftovers… we… we can’t try the vegetables from Fishlegs’s garden!” Hiccup said with a meek smile
Snotlout looked up. “What.”
“Uh-uh. There is no way that I am eating this.” Snotlout said as he stared in disgust at the plate of steamed vegetables that sat in front of him.
“Snotlout, you haven’t even tried it.” Hiccup tried to reason.
“I don’t need to. I can already tell I won’t like it. My institution is always right.” Snotlout said. The other riders gave him blank stares.
“You know, your gut feeling??” He elaborated.
It took a second, but Hiccup was able to figure out what Snotlout was trying to say. “Do you mean intuition??”
“Yes! That!”
Hiccup resisted the urge to facepalm. “Just try a single bite. If you don’t like it, you don’t have to eat it.” He tried again, getting increasingly annoyed.
Snotlout crossed his arms as a form of protest. “No! It looks disgusting! Give my complaints to the chef.”
“I’m sitting right here.” Said Fishlegs.
“You have my complaints.”
Fishlegs’s only response was a deadpan glare.
“Again, you don’t have to eat it if you don’t want it. Hookfang can have it.” Hiccup suggested. The dragon eyed the food with interest.
“You are NOT feeding that to my dragon!” Snotlout screeched, steering Hookfang away from the vegetables.
“Then we’ll eat it.” Hiccup said, nearing his breaking point.
“But then I won’t have anything to eat!” Snotlout whined.
“Then you can just starve.” Astrid snapped, looking like she was on the verge of breaking something or someone.
Snotlout didn’t respond. Instead, he stared at the food on his plate. Maybe if he stared hard enough, it would disappear, or even better, turn into something he could eat. Hiccup and Astrid were digging into their meals. They seemed to be enjoying the food. Eventually, Snotlout stood up from the table. He waited for the others to say something. When they didn’t, he huffed and turned around, walking away from the rest of the group.
“Where are you going?” Hiccup called after him.
“To find something actually edible to eat!” Snotlout shouted back.
Hiccup watched the Viking storm away. “He’ll be back.”
Snotlout made his way through the forest, a grumpy expression plastered on his face as Hookfang unenthusiastically followed close behind. The dragon looked bored out of his mind.
“Stupid Astrid. Stupid Fishlegs. Stupid twins. Stupid vegetables. Seriously, what kind of Viking doesn’t eat meat???” Hookfang rolled his eyes at the dramatic ramblings of his rider.
“Well, they can have their stupid vegetables. We can find our own food, right, Hookfang?” The dragon did not respond.
“You know, you could at least respond to me when I’m talking to you,” Snotlout said with a frown. Hookfang let out a short cry, once again dismissing Snotlout’s words. “Yeah, whatever. You’ll be thanking me once you have a delicious dinner provided by yours truly.” Snotlout smirked. “Okay, here’s the plan: First, we find something to eat. Then, we cook it up. Finally, we eat and make sure that the others don’t get any because I hate them.” Snotlout cackled before turning to Hookfang. “You got all that?” He asked, though he didn’t wait for a response. “Good! Let’s go catch us some dinner.”
Hookfang gave Snotlout a skeptical glance.
“What?” Snotlout asked in response to Hookfang’s glance. “It’s just hunting. Vikings have been hunting for centuries! How hard could it be?”
“Order up!” Ruffnut shouted as she emerged from the kitchen with a dozen plates of food all stacked on top of each other. She quickly tossed them, one at a time, so that they were each perfectly placed in front of an empty seat. Soon, every single seat in the restaurant had a steaming plate of food placed in front of it. The twins proudly looked over their hard work.
“Do you see that, sis?” Tuffnut asked, “That is all of our hard work coming to fruition.”
“It brings a tear to your eye,” Ruffnut said, wiping a stray tear from her eye.
“Now, all we have to do is wait for the customers. They should be flocking in at any minute.” Tuffnut grinned. “When they get here, we’ll be ready.”
“Yeah, we will,” Ruff said, punching her palm.
The twins turned towards the door to watch for customers. That is when they noticed a figure standing in the doorway. Tuffnut gasped.
“Chicken!” He exclaimed in excitement, running towards the feathered animal that stood in the doorway. He fell to his knees and gave the bird a big hug. “You made it! I wasn’t sure if you were coming!”
Chicken gave a squawk in response. Tuffnut set the bird down.
“Welcome to our restaurant! Come, I’ll show you inside.” Tuffnut said as he led the bird inside.
“Here it is! Whaddaya think?” He asked Chicken when they were inside.
Chicken looked around the room for a second before jumping up onto a nearby table.
“Woah! You shouldn’t stand on the table. That’s incredibly unsanitary.” Tuff said, frowning.
“Yeah!” Ruffnut agreed, “You have no idea where that food’s been!”
Chicken didn’t seem to be listening to the twins and stepped on a plate of food to get to another. The twins gasped in shock as they watched the horrific scene in front of them.
“Hey!” Ruffnut shouted, “You’re gonna have to pay for that!”
“Careful, sis! She’s sensitive!” Tuff tried to calm his sister down.
“But she just walked on the food!”
“It’s okay, it was just one dish. Now, if it were two-“ Tuffnut looked over to see Chicken drinking out of a bowl of soup. “Hey!”
“Okay, that’s it!” Ruffnut shouted. She reached for Chicken, but the bird got frightened and ran in the opposite direction, jumping from one table to the next. “Get back here!” Ruff screamed as she lunged at the bird. She missed and slammed into a table, knocking it over and throwing food everywhere.
Chicken jumped from the table into the air, flapping frantically in a panic. Feathers were flying everywhere, all over the food.
“NO!! CHICKEN!!! WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!?!?!” Tuffnut screamed in horror as he watched the scene unfold.
Eventually, Chicken landed back down on the floor. But by that point, it was already too late. The restaurant was already ruined.
“Nice going, bird!” Ruffnut yelled angrily as she tried to comfort her brother. Chicken just stood there.
“Are you proud of yourself?” Tuffnut asked, “Don’t answer that, I already know you are. How could you?” When Chicken did not respond, Tuffnut continued. “I can’t believe I’m saying this, but I’m going to have to ask you to leave!” He said with tears in his eyes.
“I’ll escort you out,” Ruff said, and she led the bird out.
When she came back inside, the twins looked over the mess. Food, feathers, and plates were strewn everywhere from the chaos.
“What a mess,” Ruffnut said as she looked out over the damage. “The nerve of some people,” She huffed.
Tuffnut nodded. “Yeah. I am never inviting another bird to a restaurant opening ever again. They cause way too much drama.”
Hiccup sat at his desk, his fingers anxiously tapping as he stared at one of the many drawings that littered the table. He groaned and put his head in his hands.
“Can’t work?”
“Ah-!” Hiccup screamed. He turned around to find Astrid standing with her arms crossed and a light smirk.
“Astrid!” Hiccup exclaimed, “Don’t scare me like that!”
Astrid only smiled. “What’s on your mind?” She asked.
Hiccup hesitated for a second before responding. “Well, it’s just- we had a lot of food stored up in the reserves and now it’s gone and being used for Thor knows what!” He exclaimed glumly.
“I mean, I think it’s safe to say that it’s probably being used to make food for the twins’ restaurant.” Said Astrid.
“Funny.” Hiccup replied before sighing. “I mean, nobody even knows about the restaurant, so everything they make is just going to go to waste.” He paused for a second before continuing. “We don’t know how long the twins can keep this up for, and Fishlegs’s garden can only feed us for so long…”
“I really don’t think you need to worry too much. I would give the twins 24 hours before they run their business into the ground and come crawling back.”
Hiccup sighed. “You’re probably right.” A thoughtful look crossed his face. “I wonder how Snotlout’s doing…”
Snotlout was crouching behind a bush, Hookfang standing right beside him, though the dragon did not make the same effort to hide behind the bush as his rider.
“You see that over there?” Snotlout asked, motioning towards a lone sheep that was grazing. “That’s gonna be our dinner.”
Hookfang watched the sheep with interest. The tip of his tail flicked violently back and forth as he watched.
“Watch and learn,” Snotlout smirked. He then screamed and leaped out of the bushes. The sheep looked up in alarm and saw Snotlout running straight at him with an axe raised above his head. It gave a panicked bleat and ran, just barely dodging a swing from Snotlout’s axe. The axe hit the ground with a heavy thud, and Snotlout struggled to pry it from the ground. By the time he was able to get it back, the sheep was long gone.
“No! Wait! Come back!” Snotlout shouted as the sheep disappeared. He sighed. “My plan was perfect! Why didn’t it work??”
Hookfang approached him from behind.
“Don’t say a thing.” Snotlout scowled.
Tuffnut was sadly sitting at one of the tables, staring off into the distance.
“I can’t believe I trusted her…” He sighed. “Betrayal, one of the cruelest of fates. Some might even consider it fowl play. How can I go on after this? How can I learn to trust again after this? How-”
“Hey!” Ruffnut called to her twin, snapping him out of his monologuing. “You gonna help me clean this mess?”
Tuffnut looked over towards Ruffnut before going back to the state he was in before. “Nah, you’ve got it.”
Ruffnut gave an annoyed frown.
Suddenly, Tuffnut stood up as he noticed a figure in the doorway.
“Well, well, well. Look who’s back.” Tuff said with narrowed eyes as Chicken waddled inside.
“Back for round two? What’ll you destroy this time? More food? The interior? The exterior?? The whole restaurant???” Tuffnut fell to his knees, wailing. “I can’t take it!! What more can you take before I have nothing left?!?!”
The bird stared vacantly at Tuffnut.
“Bro, I think she wants to help,” Ruffnut said in surprise.
Tuffnut gasped in delight before grabbing Chicken and pulling the bird into a tight hug. “I knew it!” He sobbed with glee. “I knew it, I knew it!”
“We must get the restaurant up and running again, immediately.” Declared Tuffnut. Chicken gave a squawk in agreement.
“Tell me, dear sister, what is the first thing we need to do?”
Ruffnut grinned. “Well, my dear brother, if you think about it, there is one thing that every good restaurant has in common.”
“Oh? And what might that be?”
“They all have food.”
“Excellent observation! We must begin prepping the food once more. To the reserves!”
“I’ll race ya,” Ruff said before turning and running in the opposite direction with a cackle.
“What!?” Tuffnut cried in surprise as he tripped over himself trying to run after her. “Hey, no fair! You got a head start!”
The twins ran towards the reserves. When they looked inside, they immediately stopped laughing as they noticed that it was empty.
“That’s not good…” Tuffnut said.
“Not good at all…” Ruffnut agreed. She then turned towards her brother with a glare. “This is all your fault!”
Tuffnut gasped in offense. “My fault? How dare you throw around these accusations! What proof do you have??”
“It was your idea to make a restaurant!” Ruffnut accused, pointing her finger at her brother.
“Touché. But have you forgotten that it was your idea to listen to my idea?!” Tuffnut shot back. “That’s what I thought.”
The twins glared at each other for a few seconds before they glanced back at the empty room.
“Now what are we gonna do?” Ruffnut asked.
“We have to get rid of the evidence,” Tuffnut said darkly. Chicken gave a squawk.
“You’re right, that’s too extreme.” Tuffnut paused. “For now. But we need a plan.”
“We could sell the restaurant,” Ruff suggested.
Tuffnut smirked. “I like your thinking.”
“So my plan to get dinner didn’t go as planned…” Snotlout began as he worked on knotting a rope. “That’s okay, though, because I have a better plan.”
“We’ve gotta outsmart them.” He explained. “What we need…”
“Is a trap,” Snotlout said with an absolutely devious cackle as he made the finishing touches on the trap that he was currently working on. When he was done, he stepped back, looking at it with pride. There was a rustle nearby, signaling that something was nearby. Snotlout leaped behind a nearby bush, out of sight. He watched from the bush as the sheep that he had been chasing earlier walked closer and closer to the trap.
“Any second now…” Snotlout said in anticipation as he watched the sheep slowly make its way toward the trap he had set. “Yes… One more step…”
The sheep finally stepped right into the trap; however, the trap did not work as intended. Snotlout looked down in time to notice the rope was loosely twisted around his leg.
“Uh oh.”
The rope tightened with a sudden snap.
“Agh-!” Snotlout screamed as he was suddenly pulled up in the air by the rope that he had forgotten about.
“Help! Get me down from here! Hookfang!” The Viking thrashed around in the air, causing himself to swing around a bit. Hookfang huffed, a small cloud of smoke emphasizing his attitude. The dragon walked away without another glance.
“HOOKFANG!!!” Snotlout screeched as he was left behind in the trap.
Tuffnut approached Ruffnut, who was standing in front of the restaurant.
“Anything?” He asked, hopeful.
Ruffnut shook her head sadly. “Nope.”
“This is worse than I thought.” Said Tuff. “How can we sell the restaurant if nobody wants to buy it?”
“I hate to say it, bro, but it’s starting to look like there’s only one thing left for us to do.” Ruffnut supplied.
“What??” Tuffnut exclaimed in shock. “No. We said we wouldn’t do that.”
“Yeah, before we couldn’t sell the restaurant.”
Tuffnut sighed. “You’re right… I knew this day would come. But it still hurts nonetheless.”
“I know it does, bro. I know it does.” Ruffnut tried to comfort her brother. “On the bright side, we get to blow something up.”
“Yes!” Exclaimed Tuffnut. “You know, I never even really liked that restaurant to begin with.”
Snotlout dumped an armful of leaves onto the floor. “This is it, Hooky.” He said as he spread them out evenly. “We are finally catching that sheep. This is gonna be the one, I can feel it!”
Hookfang snorted in disbelief.
“Once the sheep walks over these leaves, it’ll fall into the hole underneath it. You wanna know why?” He asked his dragon, “Cause the fake ground covering the hole is not strong enough to hold the sheep. Best part is that I’ll be far away from this trap, so there is absolutely no way that I can get caught in it.” Snotlout bragged. And with that, he once again took to hiding inside a bush to spy on the sheep.
The sheep eventually did arrive, walking right over the trap, though nothing happened. Snotlout blinked in shock and confusion.
“What?! How did that not work?!”
He marched right over to the trap and glared at it for a second before cautiously poking it with his foot. When it didn’t fall, he walked overtop of it. Snotlout bounced a tiny bit, up and down, testing the trap’s durability.
“I made it too strong.” He noted. He jumped a single time. It didn’t even budge.
Snotlout laughed. “See, everything I do is just too good. It’s a curse, really.” He said with a smirk. He took a single step to make his way back to solid ground, and the trap immediately gave way. Snotlout screamed as he fell into the trap.
There was a groan from inside the hole.
Hookfang peered inside from above. “It works…” came the muffled response of his rider.
Snotlout slowly pulled himself out of the hole. “That’s it!” He exclaimed angrily. He stood up, clutching his axe furiously. “Nobody makes a fool of Snotlout Jorgensen! Nobody!!” With an angry cry, he began running at the sheep. The animal noticed him and immediately began running once more.
Somehow, Snotlout was able to mostly keep up with the sheep. It rounded a corner, only to realize that it was a dead end. Cliffs towered around the sheep at every angle.
“Ha! Gotcha!” Snotlout shouted victoriously as he raised his axe above the trapped sheep. “Now all I have to do is…” He trailed off as he stared into the scared eyes of the sheep as it trembled in fear. His own eyes widened.
Slowly, he dropped the axe to his side, eventually letting go of it. The sheep ran away, and Snotlout didn’t do anything to stop it.
Hiccup and Astrid were standing next to each other, talking, when they noticed someone approaching. Snotlout slowly walked past them, his feet scraping the floor the entire way there.
“Hey, Snotlout.” Hiccup greeted, “You catch anything?”
“No…” Snotlout grumbled.
“What a shocker,” Astrid told Hiccup with a grin, who gave an amused smile at the quip.
Snotlout dramatically collapsed to the floor as Hiccup and Astrid watched.
“So…. hungry……” Snotlout weakly groaned from the floor.
“Snotlout, it hasn’t even been a full day yet.” Astrid deadpanned.
“Tell… tell Hookfang I love him….” Hookfang rolled his eyes with a snort.
“You know, you could always try the food Fishlegs cooked for you.” Hiccup enticed.
Snotlout paused, genuinely considering it.
“Fine.” He spat, “I’ll try it.”
A tray of steamed vegetables was once again placed in front of Snotlout by Fishlegs.
Snotlout frowned in disgust as he poked and prodded at the food.
“Oh my Thor.” Astrid said with exasperated irritation, “Just eat it!”
Snotlout jumped and quickly shoveled a bite into his mouth, afraid of what Astrid might do if he didn’t comply. He closed his eyes as tightly as he could. After a few seconds, he opened his eyes, a look of surprise washing over his face as he slowly chewed and swallowed.
Hiccup crossed his arms with a smirk. “Well?”
Snotlout tried to cover up his expression with a nonchalant one. “It’s edible.” He said with a shrug.
Hiccup raised an eyebrow and exchanged a knowing smirk with Fishlegs as they watched Snotlout go in for another bite. And then another. And another.
“It’s not good, I’m just… really hungry,” Snotlout said with his mouth full of food.
“Mhm.” Said Hiccup, clearly not believing him.
Suddenly, a loud crash resonated through the area, causing all of the riders to jump.
“What was that??” Astrid asked.
“I don’t know, but we'd better find out.” Hiccup announced. He quickly got up and began heading towards the sound. The other riders followed behind him closely, except for Snotlout, who shoved one last bite of food into his mouth before abandoning his meal to catch up with the others.
Tuffnut's voice could be heard from a distance. “Alright, get rid of it! Everything has got to go!”
The riders looked at each other in alarm before rushing towards the source of the noise.
Barf and Belch approached Ruffnut with a long plank in their mouths. The dragons made a noise, seemingly asking the female Viking something.
“I don’t care where you put it! Just move the boards, board mover!” Ruffnut ordered.
“Woah! What’s going on here?!” Hiccup cried in alarm as he took in the scene in front of him.
“We’re tearing down the restaurant.” Explained Tuffnut.
“What?? Why???”
“Well, nobody wanted to buy the restaurant-“
“You were going to sell the restaurant???”
“We made all the meals, but before we got any customers, the incident happened,” Tuffnut said, darkly.
“The incident??”
“Yeah, the incident. Keep up, Hiccup.” Said Ruffnut. Hiccup frowned.
Tuffnut continued to recount the events of what had occurred. “So, all the food we made was destroyed, and we hadn’t gotten a single customer.”
Hiccup blinked. “What? Tuffnut, you cook the meal after it’s been ordered!”
“See, that’s the problem. Nobody came to order anything.” Ruffnut explained.
Hiccup facepalmed.
“So, then we decided to sell the restaurant. Since no one wants to buy it, we have decided the best thing to do is to blow it up.”
The riders looked at the twins in shock and horror.
Ruffnut grinned excitedly. “You’re just in time to see it get blown up.”
Tuffnut nodded. “Alright, Barf and Belch. Get ready to light this place up.” The dragons positioned themselves to get ready to blow the building up.
“Wait!” Hiccup cried, “We’ll buy it!”
“You will?” The twins asked.
“We will?” Snotlout asked.
“Yes, we will.” Said Hiccup.
“How much?” Tuffnut asked suspiciously.
Hiccup reached into his pocket and produced five gold coins.
“That’s it?” Ruffnut asked.
“There’s not exactly a way for us to make money on this island.”
“You’ve got yourself a deal.” Said Tuffnut.
Hiccup sighed in relief now that the clubhouse was no longer in danger of being blown up.
Tuffnut grinned in delight at the five gold coins in his hand. “We should celebrate!” He exclaimed.
“Please, I am starving!” Snotlout complained.
“Food’s on me!” Fishlegs smiled, excited to get the chance to use his garden again.
The riders all sat together at a table as Fishlegs began to pass out plates of food for everyone.
“Wow, Snotlout, I didn’t know you liked vegetables so much.” Hiccup commented.
Snotlout glared at him with a mouth full of veggies. “Shut up, Hiccup,” He grumbled in embarrassment.
The twins joined the rest of the riders sitting at the table.
“So, where’s the food?” Tuffnut asked nonchalantly.
“Where’s the money?” Astrid responded with a smirk. The twins’ faces fell.
“Money?” Ruffnut asked, “You didn’t say we had to pay.” She said, looking towards Fishlegs for confirmation.
“I just decided it.” Said Fishlegs.
“How much?” Tuffnut once again asked suspiciously.
“Five gold coins.”
“You drive a hard bargain,” Tuffnut smirked.
Fishlegs took the coins from Tuffnut and handed them back to Hiccup before putting plates of food in front of the twins.
“And that is how you do business,” Tuffnut said as he dug into his food.