How to Train your Dragon : Adventure on the High Seas.

Tuffnut stomped towards the harbour, after another round of arguments with his sister and then his mother berating him for fighting with his sister. He figured since Ruffnut was a girl, that she was given preferential treatment and treated differently. It wasn't fair, but his mother said, that she was training to be a good wife and fighting with her brother wasn't attractive to potential inlaws. Tuffnut snorted, he may have to negotiate soon, both he and his sister were nearly of age to marry.

He might have a few years yet, but Ruffnut wouldn't. She would need at least a years notice so that she could get her dowry together, and that would take away from her timeline of peak eligibility. Tuffnut shook his head, his mother was beginning to get to him, he was thinking about marriage and he hadn't even done anything more than help take down a giant dragon and train a Zippleback. He didn't have many other accomplishments that would make him a good candidate for marriage anyway.

To hear any of the village girls, he wasn't much in the way of looks either, even though Ruffnut was considered to be beautiful, like Astrid. He was too skinny, too lanky and gangly, his hair wasn't a respectable length, it was too long, too pale, and in the thoughts of one girl, too boring. Tuffnut reached the harbour, now in an even darker mood.

Snotlout watched as Tuffnut descended the wooden scaffolds, and was a little entertained as the other boys face went from annoyed, to irritated, to downright angry at the world. He snorted and turned back to watching the new ship tacking into port. This ship was obviously foreign, the sails were twice the size of anything Berk had, the hull was made of a darker, heavier wood and it rode higher in the water than any snekka. It also sported several decks, and the highest look out platform Snotlout had ever seen.

It also had rather ornately carved railings and a deep red paint, marking it as a pirate ship. One of the further watch towers had witnessed the pirate flag being pulled down and the other flag run up. Stoic had called down a small company of warriors, should the ship be so dishonourable as to attack under a false flag.

Snotlout sighed, after Hiccup had redeemed himself by training a Nightfury, and mostly taking down the Red Death, he had been taken under his fathers tutelage. Hiccup was no longer an embarrassment and was in training to be the next Chief of Berk. Something his uncle had not quite promised to Snotlout, even going so far as to ask Snotlout for his reply to certain situations.

Snotlout was now forgotten about and would spend the rest of his days as a warrior with no chance at becoming a war hero or even getting dragon heads to adorn his dwelling, making him a desirable husband. He was superfluous, an extra that wasn't really needed anymore. The ship tacked in and dropped anchor, it was too large to come to the dock, and dropped a long boat with several men in it. Snotlout hefted his mace, he had been training after Firewyrm had gone to the Breeding Island and hadn't yet returned, it was odd, but even Horrorcow hadn't returned to Fishlegs yet, so Snotlout thought that the females must prefer to stay with their eggs.

Tuffnut stopped and watched as the long boat pulled up to the dock and a wooden ladder was lowered. The men climbed out, an intelligent, slightly, demented, looking man was first up the ladder, followed by two nearly identical, and exotic looking, young men. Their slanted eyes gave them the look of both a clever fox and a sleepy cat, or a rather uninterested snake. The last man up the ladder was a giant, taller than Chief Stoic, with skin the colour of old tanned leather. He was also bald and shirtless, even though Berk was only just getting into spring.

It was still cold enough to freeze a yaks' balls off with a stray breeze. Tuffnut snorted at this thought, and wondered why no one was ever around when he had these sudden flashes of hilarious thought. He made it to Snotlout's side in time to see, the traders haul up a iron bound chest, and heave it to Stoic's feet. Stoic had eyed it like it was going to eat his feet, until Gobber cracked it open. Both men goggled at whatever was in the chest, before Stoic closed it and waved to the portsmen to begin supplying the ship. Tuffnut and Snotlout were pressed into service as porters, and were sent to fetch fresh water barrels and barrels of pickled vegetables. Fishlegs joined in to hear what news there was of the new arrivals and wasn't too surprised by their payment to Stoic.

Aboard the ship, with a barrel on one shoulder and a bag of meal in the other hand, Tuffnut was sent below decks to the storage. He handed off his supplies to a weedy, ratty, looking man and a large round bellied man, who took the meal into the ships galley. He guessed they were the ships cooks, and shrugged before heading back up. He passed what looked to be the captains quarters, and stared. In one corner was a large bed, next to it was a storm desk, bolted to the floor, with a star map and a large collection of maps. Tuffnuts' curiosity overrode his self preservation and he went for the maps like a lodestone to metal. He was engrossed in reading the maps, that he didn't notice Snotlout enter and close the door behind him.

"What are you doing? If we get caught!" Snotlout said, quietly and a little afraid.

"Look, they've been past anything anyone from the archipelago has ever gotten to. Those guys are from further east and south than any Viking has ever been. Maybe they've even seen the edge of the earth itself." Tuffnut said, spreading out the largest map he could find. " Here we are, and here is where they're from. Can you read that? I can't. They've been everywhere! Look at that! What would have a skeleton like that?" Tuffnut said, excitedly, and bounded over to the gorgon skeleton on the wall. Snotlout was carefully rolling up the map and hissing at Tuffnut to be quiet.

"Man, we are going to get caught, and they won't be kind to us just cause we're young." Snotlout said, keeping Tuffnut from touching the skeleton. "Don't touch anything." he snapped in a whisper.

"Please don't, things like that are hard to come by." said a smooth, slightly mocking, voice from the doorway. Both young men froze in mid swing, and stared at the ships captain and first hand, in fear. "Relax, you aren't the first to go snooping through the maps and want to touch everything. We're not going to kill you for being curious." said the larger man. Both boys continued to stare in silence.

"You know, you could be a little friendlier." said the captain, with a grin at the larger man, who rolled his eyes.

"Me? Sinbad, you're worse than I am." he said with a grin. They quickly devolved into good natured sparring, providing the boys with an opportunity to escape.

Back on Berk, both boys sat in the great hall, going over what they had seen. Snotlout wasn't impressed, but confessed to liking the idea of an adventure. Tuffnut just wanted to go and keep going till the world turned him around and sent him back to Berk. Even if it took decades, he wanted to go and come back when he decided. They didn't notice Sinbad and his crew enter the hall, until someone asked for a story from their adventures. Tuffnut wanted to get closer to listen, but Snotlout showed an unusually cautious streak and kept him back.

Sinbad began his story with something about a book of great importance, and the machinations of a Goddess. Then a kingdom and an old friend of his. He went on, capturing the imagination of the younger crowd of Vikings, and Tuffnut. He was practically falling out of his chair to hear the story, and was enthralled, when the larger man took over for another story. He later learned that the large dark skinned man was named Roth and was from a place called Nubia. Roth told the story of how they defeated a giant sea monster called a kraken, how they had seen a fish the size of a whale, and small fish that could fly for a league.

They had encountered sea dragons that ate kraken, an island of beautiful women that ate men alive. Sirens that tried to drown them, water that flowed upwards rather than down, a bird that brought the cold of deep winter wherever it flew, another giant bird that could eat things called elephants, and sea serpents, giant eels, that were smart enough to trick people into riding in their mouths to the bottom of the ocean to talk with mermaids. That was all Tuffnut could remember, he woke up in his own bed the next morning, Snotlout was sleeping on his floor. Tuffnut made his decision almost immediately, when he looked out his window and saw the large ship still anchored in the harbour. He woke Snotlout as he bounced from the chest of drawers to the hanging wardrobe, and then back to his bed. He grabbed his fathers shield and his own helmet. He grabbed a folded wad of white fabric and shoved it into his bag. Snotlout watched him for a few minutes.

"What do you think you're doing?' Snotlout asked with a yawn.

"I'm leaving Berk, on that ship!" Tuffnut stated, shouldered his bag and left the room, leaving Snotlout gaping. "If you want to go on an adventure, nows the time and this is probably your only chance before Hiccup becomes Chief and drives the Meatheads into extinction." Tuffnut shouted from downstairs. Snotlout sat in surprise, then bolted to his home. He caught up with Tuffnut before the other boy had gotten halfway to the harbour.

They were seen by Astrid and Ruffnut.

"Where are you going?" Ruffnut asked sarcastically. Astrid grinned.

"If you must know, we are going away. On that ship. We'll hire on as deck hands. Might not be glamorous, but at least it's better than rotting away on Berk, with nothing to do." Snotlout said, before Tuffnut could start an argument with Ruffnut.

"You're leaving?" Astrid asked appalled.

"On a ship?" Ruffnut said, with a curled lip. She wasn't fond of sailing.

"Yeah, take care of my half of our dragon, would you? He eats like he has a stomach of his own." Tuffnut said, straightening up, so that he was taller than the others, a fact he enjoyed but hardly employed whenever Fishlegs was around.

"If Firewyrm comes back, get her to take another rider. I doubt I'll be back in time to train her." Snotlout said, and both boys turned, leaving the girls staring after them.

"My mother, is going to have a conniption fit when she finds out about this." Ruffnut said quietly, she was still in shock and wasn't quite grasping the fact that her twin brother was willing leaving Berk, and her, behind.

The boys were laughing and joking as the walked onto the dock to confront Sinbad and ask to be hired on as deck hands. They didn't count on Stoic and his main advisors being there, which included Spitelout, Snotlout's father.

"Oh no. My dad is here." Snotlout said weakly. "He won't want me to leave. And they'll probably call your mom down here too."

"Think we could stow away and hope they don't find us till it's too late?" Tuffnut asked hopefully.

"They've seen us. It's too late." Snotlout said, as Stoic and his father caught sight of them and headed over. "We're doomed."

"Was nice knowing you bud. Maybe they'll put us on the same boat and light us on fire at the same time." Tuffnut suggested, dropping his bag and waiting for punishment to be handed out.

"Well boys, ye look, packed. Why is that?" Stoic asked, waiting for an answer. Spitelout waited as well.

"Didn't they tell you last night?" Sinbad interrupted quickly. "They're my new deck hand and rigger. They hired on for a two year term." he added brightly, Roth stared at him for a moment.

"That's right. They stayed aboard a while yesterday and I gave them the idea. Looks like they accepted it." Roth said, taking both bags and heading for the ladder. "Say your good byes boys. You won't be seeing Berk for at least two years."

"Snotlout? You're leaving? What about Thawfest and the games?" Spitelout asked, it was the only thing he could think of besides using actual emotions to keep his only son on Berk.

"I think I'm a little too old to be participating in games now. Tuffnut and me, we want to do something worthwhile. We want to be somebody. And if that means leaving, then we'll leave." Snotlout said firmly.

"Yeah, we want adventure, a chance to prove that dragon killing wasn't the only thing we could have done. Riding dragons wasn't even our thing, Hiccup has that. We want to prove that we can do great things too. We just …" Tuffnut trailed off, catching the look on Stoic's face.

"Need the chance to do it." Stoic said heavily. "I never gave Hiccup the chance he needed, he took it. So, we will miss having the both of you here. But we look forward to welcoming you back in two years. Take care of yourselves, and keep out of trouble."

"Hey, Chief? Since our dad's dead and all, and I'm leaving, would you step in and negotiate for Ruffnut if she gets married while I'm gone?" Tuffnut asked sheepishly.

"I would be honoured." Stoic said without a flicker of apprehension.

"You should be afraid." Tuffnut said with a snort, and with that, both boys jumped into the long boat and left Berk behind them.