Voyagers Saga
Broken Nest
Chapter 1: The Mid-Guardian Serpent
'Welcome back to Consortium Sanctioned News. Our top story again: fighting has intensified between rival NSC factions in the wake of the successful Empire missile strike that hit an emergency session 2 weeks ago. The board of directors has recommended that all ships avoid NSC space and the uncharted sectors until an all-clear is given...'
After the harrowing escape from McNeil's coup, spirits were down on the Bladestorm, particularly with the experiments.
"I can't believe you tried to ditch us on Hawaii. Using that teleporter to beam most of us back was a dirty trick," snapped Draco.
"You guys would have been better off on Earth," said Matt, "There aren't going to be many safe havens now. You think I could have dragged you all into a civil war?"
"We've always stuck together," said Contrinus accusingly.
"And we always try to keep ourselves safe. Which is why you should stayed back on Earth. Half of the galaxy is probably gunning for us," said Matt.
"Coming out of Null, negative contact on scopes. I think we're clear," said Techo's voice on the intercom.
"Keep your guard up. I'm not taking any chances," said Matt.
"Ok, looks like we're over an earthlike. It'd be passable as Earth if it wasn't for the second moon.
"Based on past experience, if an Earth-like world has more than one moon, it probably falls into the 'fantasy' category," said Chip.
"Better go look. I'm headed to the bridge, Techo," said Matt, saying the last part into the intercom.
...
...Guardian system online...
Unauthorized vessel detected…class 4 technology
Attempting to warn vessel away...compliance failure detected...deploying to combat mode in T Minus 5
...
The Bladestorm slowly sailed by the second moon, no one onboard noticing as it began to uncurl.
If they had checked the planet below, they'd have noticed the tidal changes were starting much too early and seem to be a bit more extreme than usual.
...
Matt walked onto the bridge and saw the comm screen flashing with a message. He looked at it to see a load of Atlantean gibberish. "Hey, how long has this been flashing?" he asked, spotting the only word he recognized, indicating 'hostility'.
"Uh, for the last few seconds," said Techo, "For all I know, it's an old ad for crystals or something."
"Warning...impact alert," said WARDEN before a resounding crash threw everyone to the floor.
"Techo, if we survive, I'm going to have you learn to read Atlantean," said Matt as he got back up.
"What the hell is that thing? It's bloody huge!" yelled Chloe as a huge shadowy shape seemed to swim through space in front of the ship, a single huge red optic staring at them before it flew forward again.
"I know robots don't normally have stomachs, but I feel compelled to say GET US OUT OF HERE BEFORE IT EATS US!" yelled Matt.
"Can't...that last hit literally broke off the jump boosters. FTL is down and we need another hour before we can null-jump," said Techo.
"Wake Alice up...and get the North Star. Chloe, you take that, we'll fight it then."
...
The experiments and Kala looked around in horror as the battle stations siren shrieked, Alice and her pilots running past.
"What the smeg is going on?" asked Draco.
"I'm not certain if I want to find out," said Contrinus.
Another crash threw them off and Matts yell over the intercom said, "Oh, bloody hell, it's a giant metal space snake! I KNEW THEY EXISTED!"
"I am not having great confidence in our captain right now," said NegaMorph.
...
The North Star slowly flew out of the Bladestorm, currently caught in one of the machine's magnetic coils, flanked by every Starfury on board. "North Star to alpha flight, let that tin can have it," said Chloe's voice, before the North Star's torpedoes and the Starfuries opened fire, causing the machine to lose interest in the Bladestorm and chase them, smashing a Starfury with a swipe as they peeled off.
The other Starfuries started pelting its hull with torpedoes until several panels around its 'head' extended out and folded aside to allow a pair of cannons to flip out.
...
Matt pointed, spotting that. "Main guns, fire!" he yelled pointing.
...
The Bladestorm's MAC railguns blazed, their heavy shells slamming the machine who roared soundlessly, before a white beam lanced out of its optic, blasting clean through the Bladestorm's midsection.
...
"Warning, hull breach, warning, fracture of superstructure, warning, orbit failing," rang out the computer.
"Shit, Techo!" yelled Matt.
Techo, pulling himself up on a computer looked at the damage report. "Do you want the good news or the bad news?" he asked.
"There's only one bad news?" asked Matt a bit sarcastically.
"The good planet down there's Earth," said Techo, mock cheerfully.
"And the bad?" asked Matt.
"We're gonna explode in 3 minutes," said Techo in a deadpan voice.
"That it would come to this," muttered Matt before activating the intercom, "All hands abandon ship. Get to the lifepods."
WARDEN said "Hey, what about me?"
Matt looked around before saying manically, "Good news, you're now the captain and captains go down with the ship...bye now!" before running out after the rest of the crew
Matt ran round a corner, just in time as an explosion forced the bulkhead to the bridge to drop. "Kala, what the hell, get on a pod," he said.
"There are still more people that need to get out," said Kala before pausing to absorb some of the flames from the recent explosion.
"I don't care. Get off this ship NOW!" snapped Matt before the ship shook again.
"Alert...exterior pressure rising...structure fields failing in sections 12 through 18 all decks," said the computer.
"But the crew..."
"Kala, you can't save everyone. There's no time to wait, get into a pod," said Matt.
"Warning: Core breach in progress. 3 minutes to detonations...all regular crew pods now launched. Exec pod remaining," said the computer. Matt sighed, knowing both that the captain's escape pod was a single seater...and that Kala would insist he take it. So he was personally regretting his only course of action as he set his blaster to neural stun.
"Matt, what are you..." started Kala before Matt shot her, causing her to fall over in a daze.
Matt caught her and said, "Sorry, but you're getting off this ship, willing or not."
"No...wait..." she managed as Matt dropped her into the pod and stepped outside it to launch. "Don't worry, there's still some fighters aboard. I'll use one of them. Happy landings," he said, not adding that he wasn't sure about the fighter situation.
...
Damage report: 65% armor impaired
Scanning...no FTL capabilities detected in remaining vessels
Assessment: Switching to containment protocols
Standing down to repair mode
Error, magnetic coil three unable to decouple, ship core destruction within 3 cycles
Chances of destruction 99.7%
...
Matt pulled on the controls as collateral wreckage from the front section, flying over him began pelting the fleeing ships, a few more pods falling prey. "Crapcrapcrap!" he swore, swerving around before calling the others, "Is everyone ok? Sound off."
"This is Alice, we lost two ships while keeping that space snake's attention, but the rest are ok," said Alice's voice.
"North Star. We took a few hits from debris and WARDEN's download failed. We'll have to ground the ship if we can't get another AI," said Chloe's voice before another male voice said "This is Captain Mendiz, we lost 22% of the pods in flight...and 40% of the crew didn't get off the ship..." Matt sighed. He knew losing a ship often meant losing much of the crew, but it still was a hard blow to him.
"The front section's...gonna splash down in the Mediterranean, no chance of collateral. Looks like a good to land just off the Norway coast," said Mendiz before he let out a swear. "Shit...looks like your pod auto launched without you. It's taken damage and it's off course. Just as well it wasn't used, eh?"
There was a brief pause of shock before Matt yelled, "GET THAT POD!" so loudly everyone got feedback.
...
Kala looked out the viewport in the escape pod to see the planet rushing up to meet her with frightening speed. 'Ok, so I'm doomed. Even if I live, I'll be trapped lord knows where...' she thought.
"You will live, but not without...complications," said a voice out of nowhere.
Kala turned and jumped when she saw a man in a black business suit. "What are you doing here?" demanded Kala.
"Oh please, you think Mr. Lynch hallucinates me?" said the figure.
"Wait, you're that Ancient guy, the one that shows up only when Matt's in dire danger," said Kala, her panic escalating.
"Yes...but there's always a price. Now if you died, he'd almost certainly turn homicidal within a few months...and we can't have that," said Mr. Black, with an evil smirk.
"Ok, there's obviously a catch. What's the catch?" demanded Kala.
"Oh, you'll find out," said Mr. Black, summoning what looked like a baseball bat, "And the best thing is...I don't need to use any energy on you...just make sure you're asleep."
Kala glared. "Don't you da-" she said before being cut off by a 'bonk'.
...
At a certain island in the Northern Sea, the villagers were watching the spectacular light show that was happening in the sky. Though some people were having different reactions than others.
Mulch sighed as Bucket screamed about Ragnarok again. "Bucket, it's not the end of the world. No snake for a start," he said calmly before another hail of shots went by with a deafening whistling noise
Just then, several columns of water shot up with a loud splash. "What's going on?" demanded Stoick.
"My guess is the gods and giants are going at it again and their teeth are being knocked out and they're falling down to Midgard," said Gobber. The others gave him a slightly odd look. "Well, it's only a guess," said Gobber.
A slowly rising noise was heard before a fireball parted the clouds and lit up the village as it passed overhead, before exploding against the mountain's summit. Through the opened clouds a cluster of similar fireballs could be seen closing at high speed.
"Uh, is it me, or are those flaming pieces of metal coming down from the sky?" asked Hiccup.
"Well, they don't look stone, certainly not bones," said Gobber.
"I don't care if they're made of seashells, everyone needs to get to safety before they hit," said Stoick. As if to force the point, one of the chunks hit an empty storage hut blasting it apart, while another two hit the harbor, causing columns of water that tops the old defense towers with ease. "Get to the caves, we should be safe enough there," ordered Stoick.
However, most of the pieces seemed to have stopped, except for one which seemed to be trying to change direction.
...
"Warning...stabilizer two failure...trajectory alteration required," said the AI urgently, as if the sound of flames from outside was enough to tell Kala she was in trouble. However, something was wrong with her limbs. She couldn't seem to get them forwards like she wanted. It was like being in dragon form, but something was different. "Alert...reality field: Type 7 detected...localized pulse. Reality generators offline...terrain alert," said the AI desperately, before a forest loomed up.
Kala yelped before flinging herself forward, within reach of the control panel. However, as she reached out her paw, she noticed her skin was black and the leg was differently shaped than before. 'What the...survival now, panic attack later,' she thought before clumsily punching a code in.
"Incorrect...please re-enter code or attempt voice ident," said the computer calmly
"This is Kala Triseptus!" yelled Kala, but it only came out as a roar.
"Please pronounce Ident clearly." said the computer calmly as the pod shook, clipping a tree
"This is Kala Tri...smeg it!" snapped Kala, getting only animalistic roaring and trying to put the code in again.
"Security alert...attempting uplink to Bladestorm...ERROR...system alter...deadlocking pod for retrieval," said the computer before with a resounding crash, the pod suddenly span, having hit a more resistant tree and was now pinwheeling through the air. This of course sent Kala tumbling around her pod like clothes in a washing machine.
The pod finally came to rest, a trickle of water coming in. "Urgh...that was an unpleasant ride," she moaned weakly. The deadlock feature had been Chloe's idea, to stop any intruders escaping off ship...and was geared for hybrids. She tried to get to her feet, but her body didn't seem able to rise any higher than a quadrupedal position.
"Danger...power core overload detected...shutting down." Considering that loss of power means loss of life support and this pod was airtight, this meant Kala couldn't mess around with the control panel now and she really needed to get out. So she decided to see if she still had her fire breath. A try of the usual exhale failed. "Oh nonononono," she muttered, pushing against the hatch and actually feeling it strain to hold. Inspired, she pushed even harder against it.
The straining got worse, the sound of air getting in sounding with a reptilian hiss before, with a metallic pop, it gave way. Kala tried to crawl through, but she soon found her wings were open too wide to let her pass...and did she have more than one pair? Backing up, she folded them tighter around her before crawling out. "Ok, now that I'm not going to die from a deadly crash or asphyxiation, let's see what the damage is," she said before trying to get a good look of herself.
She hopped down to be almost up to her neck in water, looking around to see the pod had smashed down in some 'bowl' in the rocks, the pod already sinking into the mud.
However the show stopper was her reflection...
Kala screamed which fittingly came out as a roar as she was some time of feral dragon. "This is not happening," she gibbered, looking at the almost catlike blue eyes staring back. She tried to stand up, but her salamander-like body was clearly meant to be a quadruped and not even flapping her four wings could help. The best she could do was sit on her rear legs and 'waddle' along. "This is going to be one of these days," she said darkly.
"Ok, so I had a bad reentry that's overwritten my personal reality field. It's not irreversible. I'll just the others and they can get me a reality shield. I'm sure they'd recognize me, especially Matt," she said to herself. She flapped her wings and managed to get off the ground, but the aerodynamics of this form was quite different from her own. Still, she at least managed to spot a town before she ended up falling back down. "Ok...ow...I hate everything," she said, her face muffled from having landed in the mud.
...
The town looked surprisingly busy, though a few people noticed her and didn't seem bothered. Her audio translators were luckily still working, though the nanites happily explained that her vocal cords were 'incompatible with Atlantean mecha-guild tech'. This at least allowed her to understand that they were calling her 'Toothless' for some reason.
She was pretty sure she still had her full set of teeth. She ran her tongue over her gums but didn't feel anything particularly toothy...
'Shik'!
Kala's eyes went bug eyed at that as her teeth shot out and bit her. Kala gave a yelp and jumped back in surprise, causing her to fall over herself. "Doobib teeb...WAB DA HELB?" she said, yelling the last part.
"Does Toothless seem to be a bit...off today?" asked one of the nearby villagers.
Kala glared and said "Oh foob oo, abbole," before trotting past them, her nose smelling something tasty. She quickly made her way towards the docks where she soon spotted the source of the delectable smell: fish, very fresh fish, some of them were still gaping and flopping. "I could smell that? No...just no," she said, her stomach supplying a counterargument.
One of the fishermen spotted her and called, "Hey Toothless, care for a treat?" He tossed one fish to Kala and despite her mental protests, her instincts made her catch the fish in her mouth.
One quick swallow later and, despite the lovely taste all over her tongue, the only think in her head was the following: 'EWEWEWEWEWEWEWEWEW!' Worst of all, she was hungry for more and her stomach was winning out over her brain.
As everyone who knew Kala or experiments knew, a experiments, even an ex-one's hunger urges were always top of the list, meaning she immediately lunged at one of the fish baskets with all the self-control of Matt in the armory.
"Hey, hey, save some for the rest of the village," said the fisherman.
"Quiet, eating," muttered Kala aimlessly, her eyes actually going cross-eyed.
"Odd, he's acting like hasn't eaten anything all day," said another fisherman.
"We better get Hiccup before his dragon eats up all the catch," said the first.
"What?" said a voice behind them, the fishermen turning to see a kid walking round the corner before pausing as a green eyed version of Kala's head peered round the corner.
The fishermen turned to look from the dragon eating their catch to the one besides the boy. "Did I get hit on the head again?" asked one of the fishermen, rubbing around the bucket on his head, "I'm seeing double."
"I said QUIET, EATING!" snapped Kala, manically, one of her eyes twitching from the experiment instinct fueled food binge.
"I don't believe it," said the boy, "Another Night Fury. I thought Toothless was the only one around here."
"For the last smegging time...EXPERIMENT HYBRID EATING HERE!" snapped Kala.
"Uh, Hiccup, I know it's a bad idea to get between a dragon and its meal, but this one's meal is starting to get out of control," said the shorter fisherman.
"Finally some sense," said Kala sarcastically, actually swallowing an eel without noticing. That's when her stomach gave another kind of gurgle, the unhappy kind. "Oh no," moaned Kala before the eel made a return journey.
The humans looked away with disgust as Kala's recently-eaten lunch became...uneaten. "Urgh...I think I threw up my spleen," groaned Kala.
"Ok, I think it's appetite will settle down for a while," said the boy, "We probably ought to take her to the academy."
"Say what?" said Kala dully, looking up with a dull look.
"I dunno, she won't like being in a cage," said the fisherman with the bucket.
"You can bet your patookie I wouldn't. First person to touch me gets swallowed," Kala snapped before seeing the other dragon's expression and saying defensively, "I'd spit them out again."
"Bucket, you're not supposed to mention the c-word," said the shorter fisherman.
"What? Cage?" asked Bucket.
"Just you wait till my bushi bu catches up. He has a temper that 'blast radius' applies to," said Kala smugly
Just then, she heard another voice saying, "Alright, what's all this about a ravenous dragon? Oh, lookee here, another Night Fury. Didn't think there were any besides Toothless."
"Uh, yeah, and we need to get it to-" started the boy.
"Say no more, I've got what we need," said the voice before Kala heard a swinging sound. She turned just in time to see a man missing his left hand and right leg throw a bolos at her. Unfortunately for the bola thrower, Kala had spent the last year being shot at with things far worse than bola's, easily deflecting it with her tail before sitting down. "Really?!" she said
"Smart one," said the bola thrower, "I guess I'll need to get out the big ones for this dragon."
"Big ones?" said Kala, in a worried tone. The one-legged man reached into his cart and pulled out a large weapon that looked like a disturbing mix of sword, axe, and mace. "What...the...hell...is...THAT?" said Kala, backing up.
"Gobber..." said the boy.
"Relax, I just figured we could herd into the corral by making seem like the only safe place to go," said the one-handed man.
"Hey look, it's the Titanic!" called Kala, trying to point behind them.
The trick was lost in 'translation' as Gobber calmly walked forward. "Alright, beastie, hold still..." said Gobber before holding up the scary weapon over her head.
Kala simply screamed and shot in the opposite direction, stopping briefly at the corner and, unable to resist, calling "MEEGA NALA QUEESTA!" before a bola knocked her into the wall. "Bugger," she swore.
"Got it," said Gobber before grabbing the rope and said "Alright, let's haul this thing to the academy."
Kala glared. "Oh, just you wait," she muttered as she was dragged along before glaring at Toothless. "You could help, you know," she said, taking a gamble that he could understand.
Toothless looked at her before saying, "I may have been away from my kind of a long time, but I think there's something wrong with you and I think Hiccup better have a look at you."
"I'm not a dragon! I used to have thumbs! THUUUUMBS!" gibbered Kala, yelling the last word as she was dragged round the corner by the one called Gobber.
Toothless shook his head and muttered, "Mental."
...
Matt looked around the makeshift camp that had sprung up around the North Star. The ship had landed at an almost completely frozen island that wasn't on any maps from this Earth's history. Of course, the crew had more than enough insulation tents, heat packs, and winter survival gear to make living at this camp bearable. But there was plenty of dark muttering about how cold it was.
"We coulda flown to Hawaii or America, where it's warm?" complained Draco, bitterly while wrapped up in so many coats that he looked like a very strange teddy.
"Zip it, reptile," snapped Chris.
"I'm as zipped as can be and I'm still freezing," snapped Draco.
"That's because you missed one," said Chris before zipping Draco's hood shut.
"Thanks Chris. Someone tell me we have links on the missing pods. Last thing we need is a Viking finding an AR12 plasma rifle," said Matt.
Chip, who had to take the missing WARDEN's place in the AI core, said, "Our scanning systems were badly damaged during the escape. Currently, I can't scan any further away than two miles. There is some debris in the water but nothing very important."
"Then turn off the engines and reroute power. Kala's out there somewhere and I am going to find her before she freezes to death," snapped Matt angrily.
There was a softening hum as the engines died down before Chip said, "Scanner range has tripled and I've detected more than a few identifiable parts of the ship. I also have a weak signal that has a 66% chance of being her pod."
"Where is it?" snapped Matt angrily.
"An island to the southwest, apparently it's called 'Berk'," said Chip.
"Ok, inhabitants?" said Matt, the others noting his cold tone and how his eyes were faintly glowing.
"Humans, Norsemen most likely given the area and time period," said Chip, "I've got another type of life reading, but it's too varied to identified."
"Bind it down, use a DNA scanner. Ok, if there are humans there, we need a plan. The ship's too unreliable to fly there...plus we'd cause panic," said Matt.
"DNA scanner's crashed, I need more time to get the mainframe operational," said Chip, "But as for getting there, I'd say a boat would be the least conspicuous means of transportation."
"Sure...we'll use the boat I've got up my ARSE!" snapped Techo, who was still recovering from his gem blast that Diana had caused and as a result was shivering.
"That would certainly explain your bad attitude," said Chip.
Techo glared and pressed the mute button, grinning. "I like this part...hey, what's that?" he said, pointing down at the beach below the cliff they were on.
Matt looked down to see what looked like an old Viking boat. It had probably ended up being knocked onto the rocks by a storm, but there seemed to be enough pieces to work with. "Seems fixable. Turn Chip's voice system back on so I can ask if the nanoforges are online. We need disguises," said Matt.
As soon as Chip was contacted, he said, "Sorry, even if the nanoforges were on, I couldn't help. Apparently, one of the few things they can't make is fur, not even fake fur. I think it has something to do with an animal rights committee."
"Override: 1124 nanoforge...uniform protocol," said Matt.
"Override accepted, processing uniforms," said Chip in an emotionless monotone.
Contrinus gave Matt a shocked look and said, "What did you do to him?"
"System override, we need those disguises, he'll be fine," said Matt, walking off.
...
However, the produced uniforms were less than favorable. "What kind of cheap costume is this?" asked Chloe, holding the cloth and plastic imitation of a fur cloak, "I've seen better costumes at my high school's plays."
"Hey, I'm a computer hacker, not a tailor," said Chip, "I told you the nanoforge couldn't produce realistic fur."
"Guys, ship approaching!" yelled a trooper.
"Smeg, bloody marauders again," snapped Chloe.
"No, an actual ship, they look pissed."
"Too bad, I'm more pissed," said Chloe, her hand cracking with electricity, "They're probably pirates anyways. Let's sink them."
Matt walked in at that. "No, I got a better plan. Let's introduce ourselves while we get the 'do not disturb' signs up," he said, grinning sinisterly.
...
The Outcast search party has been rowing all morning and was starting to get cranky. They've only found a few pieces of 'sky metal' and Alvin's sure to want more than that.
"Hey, look up there," said their lookout, to where an unnatural metal construct could be barely seen in the swirling snow.
"What do you think it is?" asked another.
"Maybe it's a piece of giant's armor," said a third.
"Whatever it is, it'll be enough to make armor for all of us," said Savage, "To your oars, men."
...
The island itself was creepy, the cliff itself, under the ice looked unnaturally smooth and uniform grey. A few pieces of ice fell down from the top of the cliff and scrabblings were heard in the snowstorm.
"There's something not right about this island," said one of the Outcasts.
"It's got evil written all over it," said another.
"Alvin'll have our hides if we go back empty handed," snapped Savage.
"Hey, look there," said the lookout, pointing to an incline in the ice that was ridged and level enough to allow them to walk up.
"I dunno, boss, this looks too easy," said another Outcast, looking up the incline and noticing how one of the steps was steaming.
"If you want to go up the hard way, be my guest," said Savage.
"Fine, ok, let's move. I heard stories about this place," said the worried Outcast.
"What, you think trolls live here?" teased another Outcast.
"No, I heard there were gods here, with machines that could work themselves, machines that could shatter axes and shrug off even dragons," said the Outcast, looking in the shadows, before looking up and jumping as he saw a hooded figure duck back.
"Right, next you're gonna say they have monsters for pets that are nastier and uglier than any dragon," said Savage.
"No, some of 'em were monsters," said the Outcast, peering over the top and gulping, seeing several tents scattered around.
"Curses, looks like someone's beaten us here," said Savage, "Round them up. Alvin's not inclined to sharing."
There was a fwip noise and one of the Outcasts fell back with an oof.
"What was that?" demanded Savage.
"I dunno, I think it-" began another before another 'fwip' was heard and he slumped over, something the size of a stone striking him on the forehead.
"Who's out there?" demanded Savage, "Show yourselves!"
Three more 'fwips' were heard, three more Outcasts, leaving only a half dozen left. A creepy voice said "Someone's trespassing on my property," in a Saxon-accented voice...but in fluent Norse.
"Your property? This is our territory so everything here belongs to us," snapped Savage.
"Nope, try again," said the voice, echoing from the snowstorm that was picking up again.
"If this is your property, you wouldn't mind fighting man to man for it," said Savage.
"Fine, if we win, we get your cloaks, jackets, stuff like that. We'll let you keep your boat though," said the voice, a figure walking out of the snow, wearing a silvery coat with a fur hood.
"And when we win, we're taking your sky metal and tossing you all into the sea," said Savage.
"Oh, you won't win. I presume anything goes?" said the figure, amused.
"No holding back," said Savage holding up his bone like a club.
"Good," said the voice, his arm seeming to ripple before his other pulled out another blade. "Come and play, dufus," said the figure.
Savage let out a battle cry and ran towards the figure, readying to club him over the head. The figure simply sidestepped, slapping Savage's wrist with his blade's flat. "Oh, so close," the figure said, a disturbingly sharp toothed grin visible under the hood. However, Savage was too worked up to really care as he tried to pummel the stranger. The figure simply dodged and weaved before the bone hit him across the arm, shattering. "Ok, now I'm annoyed, that chipped a scale," said the figure sternly.
Savage looked dumbfounded at his broken bone before saying, "Who are you?"
"Not telling, but this is my camp...and you aren't welcome," said the figure, readying his blade.
Savage quickly lost his nerve and dropped to his knees crying, "Mercy!"
"Fine, the winnings please?" said the figure.
However, Savage suddenly grabbed the stranger's legs and pulled them out from under him, making him fall over. "Ha, like you said, anything goes," said Savage, "Now let's see how ugly you really are." He grabbed the stranger's hood and yanked it back.
Staring back at him was a blue scaled muzzled face. "Boo," said the figure with a toothy grin before kicking Savage back and whistling, several mounds in the show rising to reveal more figures, armed with metal sticks. "Anyone else want to tumble a bit?" asked the stranger.
"No," said one of the Outcasts, taking his coat off as fast as he could and throwing it forward, more so as a mountain of a man raised out the snow next to them. The others quickly threw in their coats. "There, all yours," said the first Outcast as he turned to leave.
However, the colossal man grabbed him and said, "Uh, uh, uh, that wasn't all you wagered."
"Wait...what else do you want?" said the Outcast, screaming like a girl as the man lifted him up without any effort.
The man held him up to his face before saying, "Your pants, please."
"Matt, Xander, no, we're not taking the pants. We don't know where they've been. No...scratch that. I can smell where they've been," said a female voice.
"Aw, but I really wanted to humiliate them," said the stranger.
"No...just no," said another voice.
The figure sighed, "Fine...leave the coats and sod off. If you come back, I'll eat you." To make the point clear, the giant tossed the outcast he was holding out into the sea. "Bye-bye," said the figure, waving and causing the outcasts to leg it. They quickly got back to their boat and started rowing like Ragnarok was right around the corner.
"Nice, now we got samples for the nanoforge," said Matt as soon as the boat was gone.
"I didn't think it worked that way," said Draco.
"It can...for short runs," said Matt, tossing the coats and the hat Savage had left behind to a couple of the spiderbots from the North Star.
"How long till that boat works, do you think?" Chloe sighed.
"It's a boat, it couldn't be harder to repair than a starship," said Matt.
"DON'T JINX IT!" yelled Draco.
...
Kala never liked being put in a cage and being put in one while being thought of as a dumb animal was particularly demeaning. "LET ME OUT OF HERE!" she yelled, trying to gnaw on the bars. Unfortunately, it seems her dragon strength was only so great in this form as all she mainly got was some sore gums.
Finally she spotted the kid from earlier and that 'Toothless' guy. "Oi...get me out!" she called.
However, Hiccup was oblivious to Kala's yelling. "Wow, Toothless, another Night Fury here on Berk. And a female, no less. I mean, what are the chances?"
Kala went bug eyed at that. "Watch it, cheeky!" she snapped.
"She does seem pretty wound up though," said Hiccup.
"I woke up thumbless after my ship exploded. HOW WOULD YOU FEEL?" snapped Kala.
"I think we better keep her in there until she's calmed down. Maybe give her some dragonnip," said Hiccup.
"Oh, not a chance. I am not spending one more night in this cage," said Kala, her eye twitching before glaring at Toothless, "Get me out or I'll make you suffer when I get out myself."
"They mean well, they're just worried how dangerous you are when you're all riled up like this," said Toothless.
"Dangerous? I'm not dangerous but my boyfriend is. He'll blow a gasket if he sees me like this," said Kala, smugly.
"And where is he?" asked Toothless.
"Coming," said Kala with an evil grin. Toothless lifted his ear flaps and looked around, not looking convinced. "Oh, he's not here...yet. But we were all headed for the same area. Which means he's...at least...say...30 or 40 km away?" said Kala, at a rough estimate. Toothless gave a snort of disbelief. "Oh, many people make that mistake. I've seen him slice tanks in half," said Kala happily.
"Slice what?" asked Toothless.
"Basically cutting rocks in half," said Kala.
"I have to see that to believe it," said Toothless dismissively.
"You will, live and in person, NOW GET ME OUT OF HERE!" snapped Kala, smashing against the bars
"Yeah, how about I wait until you sound less crazy before I consider letting you out?" said Toothless.
"It's either let me out or my boyfriend does," said Kala darkly.
"I'll wait to see if Thor arrives then," said Toothless.
"Who's Thor?" said Kala, confused, "My boyfriend's name is Matt."
"How could you not know who Thor is?" asked Toothless.
"Not from around here...or this planet...or this universe...I've lost you, haven't I?" said Kala, her voice dulling.
Toothless gaped before shaking his head and then leaning forward to sniff at Kala. "You do smell different, but I wasn't really sure."
"Well done, now open the smegging door," said Kala dully.
"Er, I can't, even if I wanted to," said Toothless, "I can't turn the key."
"Then get somebody who CAN! Really...Matt is kinda protective to insane levels," said Kala apologetically
"I'll try," said Toothless as he followed Hiccup out.
Kala sat back, deciding that all she could do was wait for now.
...
Pretty soon, the boat was in shipshape and the nanoforge had produced enough fur coats for everyone. However, it couldn't make much more than that. "It would seem that there are limitations to how much can produced, at least in terms of animal-based products," said Chip, "I suppose if you were to collect more, I'd be able to forge more."
"We'll just need to be careful," said Matt, who was sitting up near the front of the ship as it sailed past a huge fogbank. "Big fog," he muttered.
"We're in the Northern Seas, that's to be expected," said Chloe.
"Yeah...but it stops too suddenly. You could run a spirit level up that fog bank," said Matt before shrugging, another mystery for another day. "Never mind. Ok, ground rules: all the experiments have to play pet...and no stealing any food that can be missed."
Megan noticed Gary was leaning over the side and asked, "Gary, are you feeling ok?"
"I'm fine," said Gary, "But I think there's something in the water."
"Like what?" said Matt, adding, "Chip, any life reading near us?"
"Well, something, I think, the water is interfering with my scanners," said Chip.
"Ok, thanks Chip," said Matt before walking over to Gary. "It's probably just a whale, Ga-" he said, peering over and pausing as well, a reptilian head peering back. "...That's a weird whale," he said before the two were blasted by a stream of water.
"Thar he blows," said NegaMorph. Matt luckily got some revenge as he landed directly on NegaMorph.
"Gary, what happened?" asked Megan.
"SEA SERPENT!" yelled Gary.
"Yeah...I saw it," moaned Matt from where he had landed.
"Oh please, I don't think we've been out at sea long enough for you to get sea madness," said Chloe. However, the water near the ship was starting to ripple as something started to arise. "I TOLD YOU!" snapped Matt, everyone pulling out a mixture of firearms, the blades they had were cheap knockoffs from the nanoforge.
Suddenly, a long neck that ended with a reptilian head that had had a single horn on its nose and a pelican-like chin came up out of the water and looked down at the boat. "Oh no," said Sue in a shaking voice before asking Draco, "Does this happen often?"
"Well, we do tend to meet dragons, not so much sea dragons on account that Matt hates being near deep water," said Draco.
A second later, a water blast drenched everyone. The dragon smirked before vanishing underwater again with an air of 'that'll teach 'em'. Chloe's teeth chattered as she said, "C-c-c-cold water, n-n-n-not fun."
"YOU JUMPED UP WATER HEA-" yelled Matt only for the dragon to shoot out the water and chomp him, shooting back again, the whole process happening in a blink, though the burp took longer.
"Ok, let's get to land where we can warm up and dry off," said NegaMorph.
On cue, something shot out of the water before the mast shook, everyone looking up to see a pair of legs poking out the crow's nest.
"Took him long enough," said NegaMorph.
"Screw you, NegaMorph," came the reply, NegaMorph's head glowing for a second before pancaking.
"Totally worth it," he rasped.
...
As they reached the island, it became apparent that the sea dragon apparently had some kind of venom. The good news is that Matt's nanites were enough to keep it from being lethal. The bad news is that his head seemed to be a little less screwed on than usual. "Squishy, squishy, squeak," he gibbered, squashing NegaMorph regularly and making him squeak like a dog's chew toy.
"Ok, this is getting really annoying," said NegaMorph, "Can someone make him stop?"
"SILENCE SQUEAKY SQUISH!" snapped Matt, squashing NegaMorph's mouth. Apparently fed up, NegaMorph chomped on Matt with his hand-mouth. "Ow, it bites!" yelled Matt, throwing NegaMorph overboard where the following Scauldron snapped him out the air.
However, unlike Matt, NegaMorph put up a more impressive fight, if the bulges in its chin were anything to judge by. Another spit and NegaMorph vanished over the horizon. "Bye-bye, squeaky...oooh...eaaargh," said Matt, turning green as the nanites finished processing the antidote and applied it, causing him to barf up the poison.
"About time, that squeaking was driving me crazy," said Chris.
"Urrrgh...I hate everything. Are we there yet?" moaned Matt.
"Almost," said Chloe as she tried to adjust the sail, "C'mon, go faster, you stupid thing."
"Target, aerial's closing from port," called a trooper.
"Disguises, guys. Keep the guns down. I can see something on its back," called Matt, jumping down.
From a distance, it looked like a giant manta ray that was flying over the water. But as it got closer, it was obviously a large dragon with an almost-as-large Norseman riding on it.
"Bloody hell," muttered Techo.
The dragon stopped at a hover near their ship as the Norseman called, "You're a long ways away from anywhere. What brings you to Berk?"
"Erm...food...supplies...trade," called Matt carefully.
"There are closer islands," said the Norseman.
"We got lost," said Chloe, "Misleading fogbanks and alike."
"I understand. There's some nasty perils for an unwary ship in that fogbank," said the Norseman.
"Well, since your island's so close, can we make port here?" asked Chloe.
"Fine...as long as you don't mind dragons," came the reply, sounding amused.
"You'd be surprised how much we don't," called Matt.
…
As soon as they got to the harbor, they could see the usual flock of seagulls circling around. But they also spotted another more unusual flock on the docks. "Tiny dragons," pointed Matt desperately.
About 10 small green dragons were watching the ship come in with a sort of vacant walleyed look. "Aw, they look so cute," said Megan. One of the dragons licked its eyeball for a second. "Sort of."
"Yeah, they have the look of spiderbots around them," said Matt carefully
"I've seen Chihuahuas that look and sound more intimidating," said Chris.
The Terrible Terrors all turned to look at Chris at that...in unison.
"Uh, I think they're more intelligent than they look," said Gary.
"Oh please, they're just dumb little-ARRGH!" said Chris, screaming as the Terrible Terrors mobbed him
"The smaller they are, the more easily they can swarm you," said Matt.
The group walked onto the deck, looking around at the town. "Nice, never seen anything like this," muttered Techo, pulling the glove on his cyberarm tighter.
"It's charming, if rustic," said Chloe.
"And weird. I feel like I'm on Avalar again," said Matt, looking around confused and seeing a two-headed dragon peering from a roof.
"I think the dragons on Avalar are a bit more...advanced," said Chloe.
"True, I would have been threatened by now otherwise," said Matt
"Well, as long as we're here, let's get something to eat," said NegaMorph, "I'm famished."
"Ok, see if you can spot the currency here so we can use the currency converter," said Matt quietly.
Gary looked at some of the shops and said, "It looks like they mostly barter here."
"Ok, this might make things harder," said Matt before there was a thud behind him as the Norseman from before landed. "Nice little village you have here," said Matt.
"Thanks, you don't seem surprised to see...oh, you got a dragon of yer own. That some kinda Terrible Terror?" said the Norseman, looking at Draco.
Draco opened his mouth to protest but Matt held it shut. "No, he's a...foreign breed, from a place very far from here. Smarter than he looks, but not by much, OW!" said Matt, the last part from Draco scratching him. "He's...also...very...aggressive," growled Matt through the pain.
"I see, so long as he doesn't cause too much damage around here or try to attack the sheep, I don't have a problem," said the Norseman, "And in case it wasn't obvious, I'm Stoick the Vast, Chieftain of the Hairy Hooligans."
"Matthew the erm...Crazy. Leader of the Temporal Raiders," said Matt, carefully.
"Temple Raiders? You have some pretty big nerves to be attacking places men would be considered holy," said Stoick.
"Er, that's actually..." started Matt.
"Also, I'm pretty sure 'the Crazy' is taken. Was it Carl the Crazy or Bjorn the Crazy?" continued Stoick.
"Oh, he's just playing around with names right now," said Chloe, "Other names in consideration are Matt the Unpredictable, Matt the Mirthful, and Matt Earbreaker."
"Oh har har," said Matt darkly
"It takes a while for the right name to settle," said Stoick, "But you're free to trade for what you need."
"Thanks, mind if I look around?" asked Matt.
"So long as you don't wander off alone. Have to be careful with potential spies and such," said Stoick.
"I'll be careful," said Matt, walking off and muttering "Spies for what?"
...
Eventually, Matt came upon an arena. Or what used to be an arena since the sign over the door said 'Berk Dragon Academy'.
"Well, this would count," he muttered, his nanites scanning.
"Anomalous lifesign detected in zone," said the voice of the nano-AI. Matt shrugged and walked inside, a single barred cell at the far end. "Cell consists of high tensile iron with stone-reinforced superstructure, possibly graded for draconics," said the AI.
"What the?" he muttered, walking forward before jumping back as a pair of blue reptilian eyes shot open. "Unknown draconic variant, attempting uplink to local info-guild network," said the AI to Matt's shock, rows of binary appearing as it hacked his glasses' HUD.
"Hey, I don't need this much info," said Matt.
"Irrelevant, all Atlantean Shar operatives must have all information. Primary uplink at capital: failed. Accessing local facilities, please stand by," said the AI dismissively.
"I suppose I shouldn't be surprised if they have facilities there," said Matt, "Maybe they'll have something useful."
"Access complete, lifeform identified, species: Nocturnis Furia, sentiency level: partial human, nonverbal, current threat to operative...zero," said the AI a rotating wire model appearing for a second before the system continued "Abilities: Fighter grade flight agility, blaster proof scales, weapon of choice: High grade natural plasma bursts. No other information available."
Matt peered in as the dragon suddenly shot at the bars with a happy expression. "Hey there, girl."
...
Kala had never been happy to see Matt's bad disguises as he said, "Hey there, girl." before her hope vanished as he continued "Who'd lock a cool dragon like you up?"
"Matt, it's me, Kala, don't you recognize me at all?" asked Kala desperately.
"Wow, you musta been all alone for ages to be happy to see someone like me," said Matt, clearly not understanding a word before sighing. "First, I'll cut you out. Then I'm having a word with that Stoick guy about my views on dragon slavery," he said, pulling out a nanostick, putting it in the lock where it began to eat the lock's innards.
Kala wasn't pleased about Matt failing to recognize her, but at least she's getting out of this cage.
...
Matt nodded as the first lock, a practical girder for a deadbolt fell in half, wincing at the loud clang, before reaching for his second when he noticed the dragon seemed to be trying to point behind him. "Oh no," he said dully. He quickly turned around, hiding the nanostick and the busted lock behind his back. He spotted a lanky teenage boy with a peg leg and a dragon of the same species as the one in the cage. "Uh, hi there," said Matt.
"What are you doing?" asked the boy, curiously, the last of the girder giving up behind Matt before the pieces in view visible collapsed into sand.
"Er, I think this dragon has acid-spitted your cage apart," said Matt.
"Night Furies don't have acid spit and there aren't any Changewings here," said the boy before looking around, "At least I don't think there are."
Matt was already weighing his options. His HUD was flashing a 'timeline specific' warning so simply stunning the kid and his pet were out the question. "Erm...I think I saw one earlier," he tried, getting an idea before putting the other nanostick on the remaining lock behind him, this time emptying the lot on the lock, causing the metal to practically disintegrate. "Hope this works," he muttered. He started to edge when he bumped into something. He looked where he was going, but didn't see anything in his way. "What the..." he muttered before poking at the 'solid air' in front of him.
As it turned out, there had been a Changewing in the arena, having followed the group from their camp...as being woken up mid nap by someone landing a 300 ton ship on your tail often annoys.
Suddenly, Matt felt something wrapping his arms to his side. "Hey, what's going on here?" he demanded when a draconic head with long antenna that was binding Matt appeared out of thin air. "Oh no, this is just the crappiest day I've had this month," said Matt gloomily before saying, "You have acid breath, don't you?" The dragon hissed, bits of spit dripping from its mouth to hiss on the stone floor. "Thought as much. You're gonna eat me, aren't you," said Matt, the dragon seeming to think about it before nodding and pointing to its tail which seemed a bit flatter then was healthy at its tip, with a landing strut imprint on it. "Ooooh...I told them to look where they were going," said Matt before he remembered what was about to happen, "Oh yeah..."
With that, the Changewing flew out the Academy door with Matt in its clutches. "Ok, that's something you don't see every day," said Hiccup before getting onto Toothless, "Let's go." However there was the sound of screeching metal as the other Night Fury shot out in pursuit.
...
The Changewing was surprised. It had chased this stray human after he had parked on its tail...and now he was taking it for some quiet revenge it didn't even have the dignity to scream. "Just you wait till we're out of sight. I'm gonna kick your scaly arse," said the human gleefully.
However, a plasma burst suddenly shot out ahead, barely missing the Changewing. "Hey, that wasn't mine," said Matt before noticing the kid and his dragon flying after them. "Oh, great," said Matt, sounding less happy than he should have.
The Changewing however snorted with contempt, diving into the trees, his skin matching perfectly to the background and doubling back, the duo flying overhead. "That's interesting," commented Matt before the AI kicked back in.
"Draconic lifeform: Metamorphis Acido. Weapons of choice: molecular acid. Known to hold extreme grudges and be highly territorial. Threat level: 9. Do not approach," said the AI
"Gee, thanks for the warning," said Matt sarcastically.
"No locals in range. Releasing locks on mutagenic capacities," said the AI calmly.
"It's about time," said Matt as he attempted to change into his dragon form.
The Changewing yelped as his lunch turned into a dragon equal to his size that said in human. "I did warn you." The Changewing immediately vanished as Matt sprayed the area in a storm of plasma bolts that caused a row of explosions.
"Additional information: Metamorphis Acido is an ambushing hunter," said the AI
"So it can camouflage, I can still hear it," said Matt, pausing to listen for the tell-tale sound of branches moving.
"The lightweight musculature and bones of this lifeform also act as natural sound dampening. As a result only its difficulty to obtain prevented its widespread inclusion in the Shar project," said the AI happily. Matt heard a hiss and barely moved before a spray of acid melted the tree in front of him, causing him to spin and blast the area.
...
Kala looked around, desperate to catch up before hearing Toothless not far behind her, calling for her to slow down. "Not a chance, that's my bushi bu with that acid-spitting chameleon," snapped Kala.
"What? That human? Wow," said Toothless, having caught up and sounding a little dumbfounded before a series of explosions was heard from the other side of the island.
"That's Matt alright," said Kala before zooming for where the explosions were coming from.
...
Matt, panting and furious, said "COME OUT, YOU COWARDLY GECKO!" There was a moment of silence before the Changewing suddenly sprang out of nowhere and latched onto Matt. Matt roared, simply choosing to take off to do a few barrel rolls and get it off before there was a hiss and a searing blast of pain...and down he went.
"Alert, critical organic damage, suspending mutagenic abilities for nanorepairs," said his AI before he turned back...in midair.
"SMEGSMEGSMEGSMEGSMEGSMEGSMEG!" yelled Matt as he plummeted. One thump later and Matt was on his back with the Changewing circling. "Is this how it ends? Melted by a dragon," Matt muttered, before a blue plasma bolt slammed into the side of the Changewing.
Matt looked up to see the female dragon from before zooming in and headbutting the Changewing, sending it crashing into the ground. She roared at it for good measure. "Wow," said Matt, before noticing the Changewing getting up and tossing a concussive plasma blast at it, knocking it out. "Bad dragon," he said.
Then the Night Fury landed and quickly went over to Matt, licking him all over. "Ok, ok, I'm happy to see you, stop now," said Matt.
To Kala's credit, she was a bit horrified by her own actions...oh and how her boyfriend tasted, which was of mud, meatloaf and gunpowder. "When did you last bath, Matt?" she said weakly.
"Uh, nice dragon, good girl," said Matt before scratching her head.
"Oh you stop that right now or...ooooooh...niiiiice!" said Kala, nastily before Matt caught her behind her ear.
"Aw, you're just a big puppy, aren't you?" said Matt. Kala glared and smacked him in the gut. "Ooof...maybe not," groaned Matt before the kid, riding the other black dragon, landed behind them.
"It looks like she's really attached to you," said the kid.
"She slobberized me," said Matt, wincing as he got up before looking at the Changewing. "Little acid spitter," he grumbled.
"What did you do to set that Changewing off?" asked the kid.
"I, uh, stomped on its tail...by accident," said Matt.
The kid looked at the flattened tail end and said "With what?"
"My...really big boot," said Matt. The kid gave him a disbelieving look. "Ok, a sledgehammer, I don't have to explain everything about myself. It was...erm...stealing...my...sandwich...yes, my sandwich," said Matt, happy at, in his head negotiating an enormous whopper of a fib.
"What's a sandwich?" asked Hiccup.
"Dammit!" snapped Matt, before jumping back as the dragon next to him nudged him again. "Do dragons usually stalk?" he asked.
"Well, if they have a grudge against you, but this seems more like the opposite," said Hiccup.
"That's what I meant," moaned Matt, muttering, "Kala'll kill me."
The Night Fury let out a roar that unknown to Matt translated to "I AM KALA!"
"She also roars one second and licks me the next," said Matt, puzzled.
"I can't explain it either," said Hiccup, "But I think she's basically telling she likes you."
"Wait, what?" said Matt, in shock.
"As in she wants you to be her rider," said Hiccup.
Matt just stopped at that, a thousand thoughts all rumbling before he said "I...erm..." for once his smartarse tongue throwing in the towel.
Kala gave a shrug, deciding to go with it until Matt got the full message. She grabbed the back of his shirt with her mouth before tossing him back onto her back. Sadly, Matt just ended up bouncing off her back and landing on his head behind her with an 'oof'. Kala gave an annoyed growl before scooping Matt with the top of her head and letting him slide onto her back.
Matt looked around before noticing he had the view of the wrong end. "Oh no," he whimpered as he felt the dragon's flight muscles preparing for takeoff before Kala took off, causing the ill-gripping Matt to do a barrel roll in the air and land on his head again, this time getting his helmet wedged over his head. "Whyyyy?" he moaned.
"Uh, don't worry, it took me and Toothless a while before we got the hang of flying together," said Hiccup.
"Oooowwww...I think my helmet's wedged in the ground," moaned Matt.
...
Sometime later, Toothless and Kala returned to Berk. However, Matt still hadn't quite gotten the hang of dragonriding, especially since his helmet was stuck over his eyes, so Kala had to carry him.
The first thing he did upon being dropped was yell "TECHO, GET THIS HELMET OFF MY HEAD!" The first thing his men did was laugh.
"What took you so long?" asked Chloe.
"Long story, helmet off head now!" said Matt sharply only for the female dragon to grab the helmet and shake Matt till he came loose with a pop...and flew into a wall.
"I see you've made a new friend," said Chloe.
"Yes, we're planning a summer wedding," said Matt, sarcastically to a level that not even the Hooligans could take it wrong. The female dragon made a sound that could almost be disappointment.
Matt grabbed Chloe and pulled her away while the kid began talking to Stoick. "What are we gonna do? We can't take a pet and if it stays here...well, the cell it was in didn't look 4 stars if you get my meaning," Matt whispered.
"Well, we're not going anywhere for a while," said Chloe, "For one thing, the North Star can't cover nearly as much distance as the Bladestorm could. Besides, we have missing crew unaccounted for."
"I know, but we won't be here forever," said Matt.
"I'm sure we can find a good home for her at some point," said Chloe.
"Like where?" said Matt.
"I don't know, we'll know when we see it at some point," said Chloe.
"I suppose..." said Matt, before the two turned to see Stoick and the kid and his dragon headed over. "You get the feeling we're about to get in trouble?" said Matt, adding to Chloe, "I kinda was caught letting that dragon out."
Chloe sighed and turned around with her best diplomacy face. "Hi, can we help you?"
"My son tells me you were down at the dragon academy," said Stoick sternly, Matt waving his arm carefully as Xander and his men tensed up, hands reaching under their cloaks.
"Your son? I don't see-" started NegaMorph before Chloe kicked him from behind.
"How anyone can tell you two apart," said Chloe before NegaMorph could say anything else.
"I...erm..." said Matt, again unable to find anything to say that wouldn't drop him in it.
Stoick gave the female Night Fury a look and said, "And it seems your dragon seems to have selected you."
"I noticed," said Matt.
"Well, that all seems well, unless you were planning on stealing her," said Stoick, sounding more serious.
"Stealing her? That's crazy," said Matt with a manic grin.
"Then I suppose it's just a coincidence that Changewing melted the cage she was in," said Stoick.
"The Chan...I mean, yes, that's exactly what happened," said Matt, the grins manicness dialing down while his eyes focused on the kid who was emitting a similar air of innocentness, the sort people who are hiding something give out.
"Well, I can't say I can complain about another Night Fury rider at the Academy," said Stoick.
"Wait, what?" said Matt, snapping back to the present.
"Though you're in sore need of training from what I've heard," said Stoick, "From the sound of it, you can't even ride a horse."
"There is that," muttered Matt darkly.
"Fortunately for you, my son is the leading expert on dragon riding," said Stoick, "He'll have you flying that Night Fury in no time."
"Ooookay," said Matt carefully before his brain said 'Hey, we beat Kurata not much older than him. Go for it'. "Lead the way, boss," he said.
...
As soon as word spread about Matt's new buddy, all the crew gathered at the arena for the show.
"This'll be good...sooooo good…" said Draco quietly an evil grin on all of his mouths.
Matt knew his crew well enough to know what type of moral support he was getting. "Why am I the only one who gets public humiliation?" he griped.
'Karma' said Draconus in his head before laughing, causing the kids already in the arena to be treated to their first encounter of a 'Matt moment' in this case, the homicidal giggle.
"Ok, the first part of training a Night Fury is earning its trust," said Hiccup, "Just hold your hand out and let her put her head against it."
Matt looked at the dragon who was grinning with all her teeth in a way that reminded Matt of the experiments every April the 1st. "Are you sure?" he asked cautiously.
"It's all about trust," said Hiccup, "That's the most important part about training dragons."
"Ooookay," said Matt, cautiously reaching forward before, to the group's horror and to someone's laughter in the rafters, the dragoness's mouth snapped forward.
"AAAHHH! SHE GOT MY HAND! SHE GOT MY HAND!" yelled Matt before his sleeve fell down and exposed his 'missing' appendage. "Oh wait, there it is," he said. He turned with a grin to see that the muscle-bound one had fainted.
"Ok, maybe now's not a good time for her," said Hiccup.
Matt glared at the dragoness and said quietly "I carry enough weaponry to flatten islands on a good day, play ball."
The dragoness gave a rumbling purr that could probably be contrived as chucking before rubbing her head against Matt's hand.
"See? She's fine," said Matt before another chomp was heard and his smile became a little glassy. "Not joking this time," he rasped.
"Moody one, ain't she?" said Chris to Chloe.
The dragoness seemed to be chewing gently with the same grin before spitting Matt's hand back out. "Do I have to ride her?" said Matt darkly.
"Well, not tonight, just be glad she hasn't given you the fish test," said Hiccup.
"The fish test?" said Matt, confused at the same time as, to the dragons, Kala said "The fish test?"
"Sometimes, they spit up a fish they ate and they expect you to take a bite of it," said Hiccup.
"What? Tell me that's a joke," said Matt, turning a little green.
"No, I've done it too, and it wasn't that pleasant," said Hiccup.
Matt gulped before looking at the dragoness who was grinning evilly again before making several growls, which unknowingly translated to, "If you don't recognize me, it's fish time."
"Uh, we've already established a solid enough foundation of trust, right?" asked Matt. The dragon simply shook her head before starting to make retching noises. "No, oh please no," said Matt with horror before she suddenly spat out half a fish. "I really have to?" moaned Matt, wishing he'd brought the medical kit...and the anti-sickness tablets.
"If you don't, it'll really offend her," said Hiccup.
Matt gulped before taking the fish, a head, he noticed and looked at the dragon. "Mercy?" he tried weakly. The dragoness gave a soft growl that had very clear meaning. "I hate you." Matt glared before taking a bite, and despite everything swallowing it, though he immediately went pale.
'Wow, I can't believe he actually did it,' thought Kala.
"I can't...can't believe...uuuurgh…" began Matt. The dragoness and the kids immediately took several steps back. Matt settled for throwing up. "I know how Tohru feels now," he groaned.
"Well, I'm pretty sure you have her trust now," said Hiccup.
"I'd...better...I'm not doing that again, not even if she bites my leg off," groaned Matt. The dragoness made a disgusted look.
"You could try a ride now if you want." said Hiccup.
Matt just groaned before falling over. "Baaaad fishy," he said in a weird bubbling voice. The dragoness just snorted before kicking some dust over Matt and walking off. "I think she wants me time." groaned Matt, slightly muffled as the 'dust' turned out to be a small mound of dirt that partially covered his head.
"Well, looks like we've got a new pet to take care of," said Chris.
"Yeah, in addition to finding Kala, the other half of the Bladestorm, WARDEN, and..." Chloe paused and said, "I'm forgetting someone..."
...
On a moon not that far away...
"Dis coulda gone better," said Dune Runner, his head in his hands.
The last thing he recalled was the ship being under attack. He was heading for the cargo bay doors when there was an explosion. He must have been in stasis for megacycles. He took in his surroundings, namely white rock and dust. However, he could pick up a few energy signatures, presumably the Constructicons who are probably still in stasis.
"This place is a dump...and there's a giant snake robot head in that crater, boss," said Rollout's on the comm frequency Cybertronians used to talk in vacuums.
"Then get to work on it. That head ought to have something we can use to send an SOS," snapped Dirt Boss's voice, "I ain't waiting for some space shuttle to show up."
"I don't think there are any space shuttles. Apart from some old Atlantean probes, there's nothing in orbit," said Hightower, distorted a bit as a solar flare shorted the comm for a second.
"Well, I better go meet up with dem," said Dune Runner before shifting to buggy mode and rolling off towards where the signals were coming from.
There's the first chapter of a new story. And this story will involve the gang dealing with quite a few disadvantages, especially Kala. Not to mention keep their true nature hidden from the Vikings. Roughly speaking, this story takes place before the season 1 finale, mainly so that the gang can torment Mildew. This is going to be a particularly long story so it's not at all hard to imagine that the second season will start airing before this story is over. I'm not certain what effect, if any, it'll have on the story, but there's a lot about the new season we don't know yet. Anyways, this is going to be a two-part upload so the second chapter will be up as well. Read that one as well and review both.