#I guess zak is technically her dad but he's not the dad that stepped up so 🙄

[turnaboutstar]

yes and she has it and maybe you do have some but you lost it after the fire extinguisher incident/j

[rosesnvines]

Hidden World

(For the Jumanji prompt. Sorry it’s short, but I didn’t want another novella on my hands, lol. I already have one, well, technically three, that I’m trying to write and I have to limit myself. I might return to this at a later point, when I’m not trying to juggle two hugs fanfics and an original. Also, I know there isn’t that much Mericcup in here, but it really was trying to become another novella, lol.) 

“Why are we here again?” asked Chrysta Lejune, better known as CC to her friends. She and three other teens, Zak Storm, Hiccup Haddock, and Merida Dunbroch, were standing in Zak’s basement. She had asked his father the question. 

Mr. Storm chuckled. “This is your assignment. Your teacher wasn’t specific on what you needed to do, so, I’m deciding that you’ll get to clean out out our basement.” CC, Hiccup, and Merida glanced around the basement. It really wasn’t that bad. 

“But what are we supposed to do?” asked Hiccup. “Part of the assignment was to clean up. There’s practically nothing here to clean!” 

“You’re going to complain about that?” asked Merida. 

“Well no, not really,” said Hiccup slowly. “But this is going to our grade, and I want a good grade.” 

Mr. Storm chuckled again. “Don’t worry Hiccup, you’ll get a great grade. Provided you do as I ask you.” He pointed at Zak. “That mean you too, young man.” 

Zak grinned sheepishly. “Right, Dad.” He leaned towards Hiccup and whispered, “Besides, it will give you and Merida a chance to get to spend some time together.” 

Hiccup began to blush. “Shh!” 

“Now here’s what I want you to do.” Mr. Storm began giving them instructions. First off, they were going to sort by items, i.e. clothes, papers, wooden items, if any, etc. Then they would sort by trash, recycling, to sell, and keeping. Zak knew the majority of what would go where, but if he wasn’t sure, then he would ask his dad to take a look, provided Mr. Storm wasn’t helping out a customer. When Mr. Storm was satisfied that they knew the instructions well enough, he left them to open the store. The four fell into a pretty rhythmatic sorting, pulling things off shelves and sorting them into different categories. Things were mostly quiet, that is, the four really didn’t speak much to each other, until Hiccup gave a shout. The other three ran to his side. 

“What is it?” asked Merida. 

“What’s wrong?” asked CC. 

“Uh, what in the world is that doing here?” asked Zak, pointing at the thing Hiccup was holding. 

“Well, that’s why I yelled,” said Hiccup. “Part of the reason, anyway. This thing gave me an electric shock!” 

“Huh,” said Zak, taking the thing from Hiccup. “Does that mean it runs on electricity?” 

“Wait, you’ve never seen this before?” asked CC. 

Zak shook his head as he turned over the thing. “No, but I think it looks like a PS game of some sort. Might explain why it shocked Hiccup.” He walked over to a TV and plugged it in. The screen flickered to life, and the symbol of a dragon appeared, followed by the word “begin”. “Huh, it is a game.” 

“Wait, there’s a game in your house that you don’t know about?” asked CC incredulously. 

Zak shot her a look. “Obviously.” He looked back at the screen. “I wonder why my dad didn’t tell me about it.” 

“Unless he forgot about it,” suggested Hiccup. 

Zak shrugged. “It’s possible. Well, let’s play.” 

“What?” blurted Hiccup and CC. 

Zak pointed at the room. “We’re about halfway done. I think we can pause for a break, don’t you think? Besides, it’s not like we have to spend all day cleaning.” 

“He has a point,” said Merida with a shrug. “But, how do we play?” 

“Hang on,” said Zak. He rummaged around in the electronics section and found four controllers. Merida helped him plug them in. Zak pushed a button, and the screen changed to to having four icons in the corners of the screen and several sentences in the middle. “Huh,” said Zak, getting closer to read the print. “‘Dragons are being hunted left and right in an attempt to rid the world of them. But you know of an old seafaring tale, that of a place so secret that no one but dragons can get to. Find this Hidden World and save the dragons.’” He pointed at each of the icons. “There are four characters, a Scottish princess, an Atlantean princess, a pirate captain, and a Viking chief.” 

“OK, that kinda sounds interesting,” said Hiccup as he picked up a controller. 

“I’m curious too,” said CC. “Atlantis could be the Hidden World.” 

“It might not be,” said Hiccup, “otherwise the game would have said so.” 

“Well, I’m going to be the pirate captain,” said Zak as he quickly made his selection. 

“Calling the Atlantean princess!” CC shouted and clicked on the icon. 

Merida groaned. “I guess I’ll be the Scottish princess then.” 

Hiccup sighed. “And that leaves me with the big, burly Viking chief.” 

“Hey, you’ll be big for once in your life, huh?” 

Hiccup eyed Zak. “If you weren’t one of my closest friends, I would pummel you.” 

Zak grinned mischievously. “You mean you’d try?” 

“Well, if he’s a buff, burly Viking Chief, he can,” said Merida with a grin. 

Zak glanced at the screen. “Yeah, it would also help if you selected your character.” 

Hiccup looked a the screen, blinking. “Oh, I thought I clicked it already.” 

Zak scoffed and pointed at it. “Well, it’s saying you didn’t, so go ahead and click it . . . please.” 

Hiccup rolled his eyes. “Oh, alright, since you  asked so nicely . . . sorta.” Zak grinned as Hiccup pushed the button to select the Viking chief. 

“Alright!” There was a pause as they waited on the screen to change, but nothing happened. 

“Uh, is it broken?” asked CC as she glanced at Zak. 

Zak pushed all the buttons on his controller and pounded it before letting out a grunt. “Oh come on! Ugh! It must be frozen. At least we didn’t start the game yet.” 

“Um, maybe it’s not meant for the TV?” asked Hiccup as Zak put down his controller and walked to the TV. 

“But it has the right cords for it! Well, we can try it again, and if it freezes again, then we’ll try the computer.” Zak tapped the TV screen. The screen seemed to ripple. Zak took a startled step back. 

“Uh, Zak, what’s going on?” asked CC. 

“I, I don’t know . . . maybe we should . . . ah!” The ripple began to swirl and seemed to turn into a whirlpool. “Run!” But before anyone could take another step, the whirlpool widened and engulfed them all. 

The next thing Hiccup remembered was that he was falling. He had barely let out a scream when he hit the ground. He rolled a few feet before picking himself up and dusting himself off. He paused when he noticed the change in his attire. “What the?” Instead of jeans and flannel, he was wearing black leather with red draconian symbols decorating his suit. He jumped when he heard a scream and a body falling to the ground near him. He rushed over to the person, and found it was Merida, dressed in a Scottish dress with a bow and quiver strapped to her back. “Merida? Are you alright?” 

“I thought that fall would have hurt more,” she said as she stood up. 

“I’ll take that to mean that you’re fine.” 

Merida rolled her eyes. “Yes Hiccup, I’m fine, thank you for asking.” Two more yells came from their right and two more people fell to the ground. 

“Zak, CC?” 

“Who else?” muttered CC as she got up. She too was wearing a dress, sort of, her skirt was more of a skort with fishnet leggings . She also had fishnet leggings, matching gloves, a purple and yellow starfish on her bodice, anda golden coronet sitting on top of her head. Zak was wearing the typical pirate outfit, complete with an eye patch that had been pushed up so he could use both eyes. The two let out shrieks when they saw Hiccup and Merida, then each other, and finally at themselves. 

“Hey! Where are my clothes?” blurted Zak. 

“What is up with my hair?” blurted CC as she felt the pink ringlets. 

Zak pulled a sword from his back. “Well, at least I hava cool sword.” 

“Glad you think so, matey.” Zak dropped the sword as everyone screamed and dashed behind a couple of trees. “Ouch!” 

“It it it it . . . it can talk!” 

“It is Calabrass, and I’m supposed to help you find the Hidden World!” A roar echoed in the forest. 

“Uh, what was that?” asked Hiccup. 

“Oh, right, Toothless is supposed to help you too. He’s the last of the Nightfuries and the alpha dragon.” 

CC threw up her hands. “Great! We got sucked into a video game where we get new clothes, and new hairstyles, plus we have a talking sword and dragons?” 

“Well, this is a game about saving the dragons, so . . .” Zak shot her a sheepish grin and shrugged. 

“But how do we get out of here?” asked Merida. 

“In order to finish the game, you have to defeat Skullivar and Grimmel, and get Toothless and his mate to the Hidden World safe and sound. Without getting yourselves killed, of course.” 

Hiccup threw up his hands. “Go figure.” 

Merida raised her hand. “But, if we die here, do we die . . . for good?” The group glanced at each other in alarm. 

“That, Mer, that . . . we really shouldn’t have started playing this game!” 

“You’re telling me!” 

CC glared at Zak. “Telling you? You’re the one who wanted to play it!” 

Zak let out an exasperated breath. “How was I supposed to know we would get sucked into the game?” 

Guys!” Everyone glanced at Hiccup. “Listen, we’re here now, we’re going to have to work together and finish playing the game to get out of here!” 

“That’s the spirit!” said Calabrass enthusiastically. “I like that kid, Toothless.” The group turned, startled. There, sitting on either side of Calabrass were two dragons, one white, the other black. 

“Aw!” said Merida as she dashed forward and began petting the black one. “You’re so cute!” The black dragon began panting like a dog. Hiccup started smiling softly. 

“Oh, so you like her, huh, Toothless? I think you;’re not the only one.” 

Zak walked up to the sword and picked it up. “What do you mean by that?” he asked with a soft chuckle. 

“What? Don’t you know? Your . . . mmph!” 

“Shh, I know!” whispered Zak. “It was a rhetorical question!” He removed his hand from the skeleton’s mouth. 

“I see. Well then, we should get going! You don’t have much information on where the location of this Hidden World, and who knows when Skullivar and Grimmel could catch up to us. Let’s go!” 

“Why would we believe you anyway? You’re a talking pirate sword!” said CC. 

“I’m your only hope against Skullivar and Grimmel. Plus I can help you navigate the waters of the Bermuda Triangle.” 

“The Bermuda Triangle?” 

“Wait, did you just say the Bermuda Triangle?” asked CC incredulously. 

“No, I said the Bermuda Square. Of course I said the Bermuda triangle! It’s one of the speculative theories that’s where the Hidden World is located.” 

Zak groaned. “Oh great, we’re heading to one of the most deadly spots in the entire ocean!” 

“But you’ll have me, and the dragons!” said Calabrass enthusiastically. “We’ll be able to help you through it!” 

Hiccup sighed. “Well, we’d better get going and get this over with so we can get back home.” 

“You got it! I’m really liking this kid.” 

Zak groaned. “Really? I’m the pirate captain!” 

“Doesn’t mean I have to like you. But you could grow on me. We’ll see.” 

Zak groaned again, but the group got on the dragons and flew off, eager to just finish the game and find out exactly why this was happening to them.