Stinger zips around the beach, jumping over Mulic who's sleeping on the sand. Leafwisp lays beside him, watching the Speed Stinger run around. Spine and Snips are sitting in shallow water. Raincutter is resting on some nearby rocks, sunbathing.
Niether dives down from high up, and dives into the ocean. Then he dives out with a mouth full of fish. He lands on the beach as fish tails poke out of his mouth. He then walks off to the side, and stops beside Rocky.
Who's wearing nothing but a simple cloth pair of shorts. He's got his eye closed with his arms behind his head. Niether drops the fish into a pile next to Rocky, before he starts eating them.
Rocky keeps his eye closed as he smiles, letting out a content sigh. "Ahhh, nice to have a day off."
Niether plops down next to the human. "Why are we having a day off, isn't Sigewulf ramping up his attacks?"
"We've been working like non-stop for over a month, we all need a breath." Rocky opens his eye and looks at the dragon. "Besides, we get the Terrible Terror brothers working patrol today."
"Riiiiight, like that's a good idea." Niether shakes himself as he slurps a fish whole.
"At least they mostly get what they're assigned to done." Rocky sits up, as he grunts and puts a hand over the scar from the arrow wound.
Niether notices and lets out a low rumble. "You okay?"
Rocky rubs his side as he lets out a breath. "Yeah, just sometimes it randomly starts to hurt again."
Niether slurps down another fish, before standing back up. Rocky grunts as he stands up and stretches. He starts walking to the ocean, nearly getting tripped by Stinger as he speeds by.
Rocky laughs as he watches the Speed Stinger run down the beach. Then run around Raincutter in circles. The Stormcutter opens her eyes and roars at the Stinger in annoyance.
Stinger then speeds off as Raincutter huffs in annoyance. She then slips off the rocks and into the ocean, diving under it.
Rocky walks into the ocean and lets out a sigh as he feel the cool water around his waist. Niether slips into the water beside him, and lifts his legs up. The large Dragon unfolds his wings out, letting himself float.
Niether lets out a content sigh as he slowly floats out towards the ocean. Rocky stretches out before dropping into to the water to his neck. He then moves onto his back and floats on top of the water.
He floats out towards the ocean, beside Niether. A pair of dark shapes move under the two, until a pair of red and blue Scauldron's poke their heads up beside the two. Bach and Blech.
"Ah, it's you two." Bach, the blue one, greets.
"Hello, fine day we're having." Blech, the red one, greets.
Rocky glances over with a smile. "Hello, Bach, Blech."
"Shouldn't all of you be patrolling right now?" Bach questions.
Niether rumbles as he floats past them. "We're taking today off."
Blech looks to his brother. "Dragons get days off?"
"I have no idea." Bach responds.
While the dragons are talking, Rocky dives under the water and sinks a few feet. He looks around, spotting hundreds of fish swimming around, but his eye catches on something a little ways below him.
He narrows his eye as he sees a shipwreck several dozen feet below him. It doesn't look old at all, a lot of the ship is still intact, even the sail. The tattered sail moves with the underwater current, and Rocky sees a Skrill Symbol painted on it. Similar to the tattoo on his back.
Rocky tilts his head in confusion, before swimming up to the surface. He takes a few deep breaths, catching his air. Before looking over to Niether.
"You know there is a ship wreck below us?"
Niether uses his tail to turn on top of the water. "A ship wreck, this close to the island?"
"Oh, that one?" Bach questions.
"Yeah that one arrived the night before you two arrived." Blech informs.
"Yeah, there was a super bad storm that night, and then the next morning everything was just back to normal."
Niether translates for Rocky and the two look at each other. Rocky then swims over to Bach.
"Think you can take me down there?" Rocky pats the blue Scauldron on the neck.
The dragon nods and Rocky clings to his neck.
"Be safe down there!" Niether calls out as he floats in a circle, letting out a happy sigh as some cold water splashes on his back.
Rocky takes a few quick breaths, before Bach slips under the water. The dragon swims down to the ship wreck and lands on the deck. Rocky swims off and looks around, finding a few large holds in the deck, with what looks light plasma damage.
He then finds a damaged hatch and swims over to it, flipping it open. He dives into the bottom of the ship, finding floating barrels and bunch of crates. He carefully swims around, as Bach pokes his head in through a hole.
Rocky stops and lets out a few bubbles as he glances around. His eyes land on a small chest and he swims over, grabbing onto it. He swims over to Bach, as the dragon takes his head out of the hole.
Rocky then clings to his neck and points up. Bach then swims up to the surface as Rocky clings to his neck. After a second they break the surface and Rocky takes a deep breaths.
Niether uses his tail to swim over. "What'd ya find?"
Rocky swims over with one hand, and puts the small chest on the purple dragons back. "A small chest of sorts." He tugs on the small lock on the front. "And it's locked."
Rocky climbs onto the dragons neck. He looks to Bach.
"Thank you Bach."
"Any time." Bach nods.
Blech swims over to Bach. "Brother, we must go, remember the thing?"
"Oh, right. The thing. Yes."
The two Scauldrons swim off, and Niether stares at them in confusion.
Niether swims back to shore. "Those two are rather weird."
Once they reach shore, Neither walks a few feet, before lowering himself to the ground. Then Rocky slides off his back, before kneeling on the sand as he sets the little chest down.
The other dragons notice and slink over. Even Raincuter slinks out of the ocean as she comes over.
"What is it?" Mulic lets out a yawn.
"Its small." Leafwisp points out.
"Rocky found it on a sunken ship just off the the island." Niether informs.
"Sunken Ship?" Snips questions. "When did a ship sink around here?"
While the dragons are talking, Rocky is trying to get the lock off.
"Bach and Blech said it arrived at a bad storm a little over a month ago, the night before we arrived." Niether points out.
All the dragons look at each other, then back at Niether and Rocky.
"Before you say anything, I don't know if we were on it." Niether rumbles, then glances at Rocky as he huffs as he can't get the lock.
Leafwisp slinks up and spits a little acid onto the lock, melting it. Rocky laughs as he pats the Changewing on the head, then he rips the lock off. He flips open the small chest and all the dragons lean over him to see what's inside.
Rocky raises an eyebrow as he pulls out a slightly soaked book, and a dagger. Rocky then flips the chest upside down, and water falls out and several gold coins.
Rocky blinks a few times and tosses the chest to the side. "That was underwhelming."
Rocky grabs the knife, book and the gold coins, as he sits on the ground. All the dragons sit around him, as he looks over the knife. Finding nordic runes engraved into it.
ᚠᛟᚱ ᚦᛖ ᛈᚱᛁᛞᛖ ᛟᚠ ᚦᛖ ᛒᛖᚱᛊᛖᚱᚲᛖᚱ ᛏᚱᛁᛒᛖ
"Berserker Tribe?" Rocky mutters as he flips the knife around in his hand.
"Berserker Tribe?" Niether questions with a rumble, watching as Rocky pokes himself with the dagger, cutting the tip of his finger.
"Ow.... It reads, 'For the Pride of the Berserker Tribe.'" Rocky sets the dagger on the ground. "What ever that means."
Rocky then grabs the book, and flips it open, only to find most of the writing in the pages all ruined from the water. Rocky lets out a frustrated sound as he tosses the book over to some rocks to dry.
"So that ship was from whatever a Berserker Tribe is?" Spine questions with a squawk.
"They sound kinda... rough?" Raincutter adds with a chirp.
"If only we could find out more about it." Snips says.
Niether translates the dragons for Rocky, and the human hums in thought. Before a sudden smile forms on his face. Niether narrow his eye at the human, before realizing.
"No, no, we are not." Niether gives a low rumble.
"Why not, nothing bad happened last time we went." Rocky points out.
"But who knows if any one from the auction will be there. Everyone did see your face."
"But I'll wear a hood again, no one say who I was while walking the market." Rocky points out. "Besides, we've got nothing better to do."
"We could be relaxing all day!" Niether stomps a foot on the ground. "This is our day of relaxing! So I will be relaxing!" He drops the the ground, making the other dragons move away.
Rocky smirks at his dragon. "You can't tell me your at least a little curious."
Niether glares at Rocky, before letting out a long sigh. "Fine... I'm slightly curious..."
"Um, what's going on?" Leafwisp calls out.
"Rocky wants to go to the Southern Market to get information on the Berserker Tribe." Niether stands up, and lightly hits Rocky with his paw. "I don't want to, but my curiosity is now piqued... Maybe it'll have something related on us."
"Well, since your not doing it for purposes of scouting or getting information on Hunters, you could say its part of your vacation." Mulic points out.
Stinger zips up to the ground.
"Party?" Stinger questions, and Niether rumbles the translation.
Rocky pats the small dragon on the head. "No Stinger, just trying to figure some stuff out. Why don't you go back to running?"
"OKay!" Stinger speeds off, leaving a dust trail behind.
Rocky stands up and stretches. "Well, Imma go get my clothes, then let's head off. We'll be back by dinner time."
Niether huffs as he shifts on his paws, and glares at Rocky as the human smugly walks off.
'I'd kill him if we weren't the same person.' Niether grumbles in thought. 'Gods, I hate myself sometimes.'
A few hours later, Rocky is looking over the dagger he runs his fingers over the runes, as a sense of familiarity flows through him. He then just shakes his head and sticks the dagger under his Nadder Spine gauntlet.
Rocky lets out a sigh and blows a raspberry as he sits up on Neither's back. The dragon rumbles as he flaps his silent wings.
"We're coming up to the island." Neither calls out.
Rocky looks ahead as he sees the Southern Market, dozens of ships parked at the front of the island. He reaches into a new satchel on Niether's sadel, and pulls out a cloak.
He puts it on, and flips up the hood. He tugs on it a few times to make sure everything is secured.
"Alright, land us in the same spot as before."
Niether rumbles as he stays low to the water and speeds across it at blinding speeds. Then he dives onto the island and quickly lands, letting Rocky hop off, before shooting up into the sky. Rocky flips up his eye patch as his vision splits.
He watches as Niether climbs up high, before hovering just above the clouds and looking down at him. Rocky gives a wave, before heading towards the market. He checks over his gear a few times, before he reaches the edge of the market.
He looks around from behind a tent, to make sure no ones looking. He then quickly steps out and keeps his head down. He moves through the market as he looks around at the stalls.
'If I wanted information where could I start?'
Rocky glances around at some of the stalls, finding some that sell spices, golden trinkets. He sees a Small Viking selling Salmon and Cod. Rocky finds out his name is Rune Shore-Stone.
Rocky shrugs and continues on, keeping his head low as he glances around. His eyes then land on a familiar face; Trader Johann. Rocky smiles as he walks over.
"Mr. Johann!" Rocky greets as he approaches.
"Ah, the Young Master from a few days ago." Johann smiles as he claps his hands together. "I never did quite get your name."
"My names Rocky Greyson." Rocky leans onto the stall.
"How may I assist you today, Rocky Greyson?"
"I'm just here for some information. I want to know about the Berserker Tribe."
"Now why would you want to know about such a-" Johann shivers slightly. "Ruthless group of people."
"Some... stuff piqued my interest in them. So, what can you tell me about them?"
"Well, they're a a notoriously fierce and unpredictable Viking tribe, that's also the largest. Lead currently by Dagur the Deranged. Which he did just escape prison last month, and I heard he's been a real thorn in the side of the Dragon Riders of Berk. They all live on Berserk Island, which is a bit of a ways away from here. You must be careful if you come across them, Master Rocky, they're not a nice group of people."
Rocky hums in thought as he looks down for a moment. "So they're dangerous people, nice to... know."
Trader Johann puts his hands behind his back. "Is there anything else I can help you with today? Perhaps peruse my wares?"
Rocky steps back. "Maybe next time, I'm on a tight schedule."
Johann smiles as he nods. "I understand, when I was your age I was always running around. Like this one time I-"
"Gotta go!" Rocky quickly walks off.
"Until next time, Master Rocky!" Johann calls out.
Rocky waves back at him as he quickly moves through the market. He then quickly slips into the forest and wakes his way towards the other end. Niether suddenly lands beside him as the human flips down his eyepatch, and his vision returns to normal.
He quickly climbs onto the dragons back, and he takes off into the sky. They quickly fly away from the island. Niether rumbles as he glances back.
"So, what did you learn?"
"That the Berserk Tribe is full of crazy people." Rocky pulls out his journal and starts writing in it.
"Oh, really, the tribe with Berserker in the name is full of crazy people? Woow."
Rocky lightly hits Niether on the head. "There's a bit more too it, but we just need to avoid them."
"That much I could've figured out."
Rocky sighs as he shuts his journal. "Let's just head back and see if anything survived in the journal we found."
Niether lets out a coo, before speeding off.
Hours later, the last light of the sun shine down onto Rocky, as he sits outside his cave. He sits on the ground next to the pond as he flips through the journal, trying to find any writing still eligible.
Niether drinks from the pond as his tail gently sways behind him. Rocky bites down on his thumb as each page he's flipped through, all the words are smeared from the water.
He starts to lose hope, until he flips to a page where part of it is still eligible. He lets out an excited gasp and Niether looks over. Niether tilts his head as he rumbles.
"Find something?"
"Kind of..." Rocky mutters as he starts reading the paragraph out loud. "'Dagur was sent to Outcast islands prison, after those traitors on Berk captured him. They now tame dragons instead of killing them. That's not the Viking way, a Viking should cut its head off and mount it on a mantle. I would go and fight Berk myself, but since Dagur isn't here no one will do anything. But of traitors themselves....' And it ends there."
"Dagur, we've heard that name a few times." Niether rumbles as he lays down next to Rocky.
"Well, he seems important..." Rocky sighs as he continues to flip through the book. "We should have watched more about this dumb series."
"Hind sight is twenty-twenty." Niether rests his head next to Rocky's lap.
"We should really apologize to Dylan if we ever get back...." Rocky mutters questly.
"I don't think we'll ever get back."
Rocky light nudges Niether. "Don't say that, there's gotta be a way back."
"We've been here nearly a month and a half, there's been no sign of any way back. We also have no idea how we even got here, or why we're like this in the first place. There are so many questions with no answers. Besides, you know there's not really anything for us back home."
Rocky rolls his eye as he continues flipping through the ruined pages. "There's plenty."
"Like what?"
"Well, technology, AC, video games, our family."
"We've been perfectly fine without those. You just don't like the responsibility of having to be the only one to deal with the Hunters."
"I'm not the only one."
Niether lifts his head up and looks down at his human. "I think you know what I mean."
Rocky lets out a long and tired sigh. "I was hoping to get away from our responsibilities, but a whole new kind dropped into my lap. And this is so much more dangerous then soldering wires and circuit boards. Cutting and sanding wood."
"More exciting."
"Yeah, but our lives are on the line every day." Rocky continues flipping, getting near the end of the book.
"I guess that is true, but our lives aren't in as much danger as you think. With me and the other dragons around, no one will be able to hurt you. And you just need to build up a little more muscle, and get better at that sword, and you'll be unstoppable."
"Eh, right... 'Unstoppable'..." Rocky glances at Niether. "Only dragons are unstoppable."
"If you believe so."
Rocky lands on one of the last pages in the journal and finds part of it still readable. He smiles as he reads it out loud.
"'It's been nearly three years since the war with Berk, if you could call it that. But I don't have anything here at Berserk Island. No reason for me to stay here. So I will embark on a journey to seek out rumors of a living Briskwind Boltren. If I kill it and bring its head back, everyone will start listening to me, not treating me like a young kid. Then I'll mount an attack on Outcast Island and save our leader.....'"
Rocky flips through the last pages, and lands on the last page. He finds just the last few sentences readable.
"'I've found it, its really alive. It can't escape me now, I've injured it. But there is a storm on the horizon, I must hurry.' And that's all there is, most of this book was damaged by water."
Niether lets out a breath through his nose. "Shame, to bad we'll never know the owner of this book."
Rocky slaps the journal shut as he sets it to the side, and leans back as he looks to the sky.
"Yeah..." He sighs as he closes his eye. "One day I'm sure we'll find out more about the person in this journal..."
Niether looks up to the orange sky. "Yeah, one day..."
The two sit in silence as they stare up to the evening sky. Admire the deep orange sky.
7-20-2026
3200 words