It had been a couple of weeks since the final battle with the Dragon Hunters. Despite the loss of the Dragon Eye and all the near-death experiences, the riders had finally began to relax again and just be themselves. The past weeks had consisted of making sure the Edge was in top condition, paying visits to the Defenders of the Wing, and just goofing off after all the seriousness. The riders had truly believed all of their troubles were over. Unfortunately, a forgotten enemy had not been accounted for. The hooded man Krogan was still out in the Archipelago, and was roaming the seas in pursue of revenge. For weeks he had been thinking of the trouble he had endured with Hiccup Haddock. The dragon rider had prevented him from acquiring a Night Fury, from getting sold to Viggo for a high price, and had even attempted to kill him by detaching his prosthetic leg when they were hanging from a cliff. Those were the kind of actions that made a man be consumed with vengeance.
Krogan had forced information out of remaining Dragon Hunters of where the Dragon Riders' base was. Krogan knew he was absolutely going to own Hiccup's Night Fury, but he knew he wouldn't be able to claim the dragon by attacking. The rider and dragon were far too skilled as a team. Krogan realized he'd have to spy on his opponent to look for any kind of weakness he could capitalize on. He sailed to Dragon's Edge, and after a few weeks had finally arrived. He docked his boat the evening of his arrival, and stealthily crept around the docks. He noticed several dragon sentries, but easily took them down with dragon root arrows. He got into the best looking position he could while not being seen by the riders. Krogan pulled out his spyglass and began to look around the Edge.
His spyglass immediately found Hiccup, and he was sitting beside the girl that had helped him walk after he had lost his prosthetic in their fight. Their Night Fury and Deadly Nadder were interacting behind them, all four oblivious to Krogan watching them. He noticed the boy and girl were sitting shoulder to shoulder, looking comfortable. Seconds later they shared a kiss, and Krogan immediately realized the value of the girl to Hiccup. He had found exactly how he was going to get the Night Fury. His plan also entailed breaking Hiccup emotionally, the ultimate revenge for all the rider's actions. He realized he would need to wait until the girl was away from Hiccup and the Night Fury before he would make his move. And wait for them to separate was exactly what he would do.
After Hiccup had gone to his hut for the night, Astrid decided it was the best time to practice her axe throwing skills again. Although she definitely enjoyed spending time with Hiccup, she also made use of his preference to go to bed earlier than her by practicing at night. Astrid made sure to take Stormfly with her, she knew her dragon enjoyed watching her have fun. She and her dragon made their way into the forest of the Edge, where Astrid's throwing targets constantly remained. Feeling tired, Stormfly decided to lie down for a while as Astrid practiced her throwing. Astrid became so focused on her axe throwing, she failed to realize Stormfly was struck with a dragon root arrow from not far away. Stormfly wasn't even able to let out a shout before losing her senses, and the dragon laid in an intoxicated daze. Shortly after, Astrid threw her axe dead center at a target. She proudly walked up to retrieve her axe, definitely impressed with herself. Just as she was about to reach the target, she was unexpectedly tackled from behind by an unknown force.
"What in the name of Th-" She was cut off by a wad of cloth being shoved into her mouth. Her assailant then proceeded to reach for something, but Astrid was able to twist around and punch them in the face as hard she could, knocking them off of her. She spat out the gag and ran towards her axe to use her weapon, but she was tackled again, more forcefully. The figure then proceeded to force her hands behind her back, and tightly tie them together despite the little light provided by the the moon. Even though Astrid was strong, the figure was unfortunately much stronger. After her hands were tied, the figure lifted Astrid up to her knees, and began to wind more rope around her arms and torso, restricting total movement in her upper and mid body. Her ankles were also tightly tied together, preventing her from making a last minute run. The wad was shoved back into her mouth, and finally, another cloth was used to secure the wad inside, preventing her from making any noise other than muffled shouts. Astrid was then picked up and hoisted over the figure's shoulder, and all she was able to make out of them from the quick movement was a sleeveless red shirt and reflective belt buckle.
A few moments later the figure had made their way to the docks of the Edge, and dropped Astrid into a small sailboat. They jumped in too, and began to unfasten the boat from the dock. Astrid had a bit of a better view, but only saw that the figure wore a dark hood that completely masked their identity. She tried hard to think who it could have been. Ryker and Viggo were undeniably dead, the figure was much too skinny to be Alvin the Treacherous, and it definitely could not have been Savage from how useless he was. The figure was familiar, but Astrid couldn't remember who it was after all the drama that had recently happened. Once the boat began to move, her thoughts shifted from who the kidnapper was to why they kidnapped her, where were they going, and how bad Hiccup was going to feel when he noticed her missing.
The next morning Hiccup rose excitedly. He made sure to spend a while working on his map of the Archipelago, since he knew Astrid was not nearly as much a morning person as him. He even witnessed her bringing the violent cancellation of 'Tuff, Ruff, and Chicken: In the Mornings'. After some time had passed, both him and Toothless rushed over to Astrid's hut. For the past few weeks they had been waking Astrid up, and going on a morning flight with her and Stormfly. Hiccup and Toothless made their way into the hut, and to their surprise Astrid was not there, even though she had normally been asleep at the time of their arrival.
"Huh, are you as surprised as I am to not see Astrid, bud?" Toothless let out a grumble in agreement, wondering why Hiccup's companion decided to start her day differently.
"I guess we should go see where her and Stormfly went. Maybe they're doing something at the Clubhouse." Hiccup and Toothless made their way to the Clubhouse, and saw the rest of the group eating breakfast, but no Astrid.
"Have any of you seen Astrid today?" Hiccup asked them.
"No, we haven't. And I'm surprised you haven't seen her today, lover-boy." Snotlout responded.
"What do you mean by that?"
"Oh Hiccup, it's so obvious." Tuffnut answered. "Now that you and Astrid are a couple, you no longer want to hang out with the rest of us."
"That's not true at all. Why would you think that?"
"Well, you've been attached to her like Deathsong amber." Ruffnut stated. "You haven't even said a 'hello' to us in weeks."
"Seriously? That doesn't mean I don't care about you guys! Of course I still want to hang together. We're a team."
"Just saying," Snotlout said. "I'm sure if you knew where she was right now you'd be talking to her and not us."
"Fishlegs, please help me out here." Hiccup groaned.
"I haven't seen her since yesterday. Maybe she's planning some kind of surprise for you?"
"Eh, Astrid's never been big on surprises, neither for her or from her."
"Well, you might as well just wait for her to return from whatever she's doing, then. Grab a seat and get some food." Fishlegs offered. Hiccup picked up some food for him and Toothless, and they both sat down with their friends to eat.
"So things sure have been peaceful around here, huh?" Hiccup started.
"Yeah, I guess so. Reminds me of those three super boring years on Berk a while ago. The most exciting thing I did was change my hairstyle." Tuffnut commented.
"I've never been more relaxed." Fishlegs said. "Meatlug and I are glowing with health!" Hiccup was enjoying the time with his friends for sure, but he still could not stop wondering where Astrid was. After a while, she still had not shown up and Hiccup's worrying was getting too big.
"Okay guys, just throwing this out there, do you think she could have been kidnapped?"
"Kidnapped? By who?" Ruffnut asked.
"Yeah, Viggo was toasted in a volcano, Ryker was crushed by a ship, and Dagur's with us now. Plus Heather told us the Hunters completely disbanded after hearing what happened to their leaders." Snotlout added.
"I know that our enemies have been taken care of. But I'm having that same feeling to when she was lost drifting in the sea. Something is not right again." Hiccup stated. "I'm going to give a thorough look around the Edge to make sure she's not hurt somewhere."
"We'll be around if you need us. And please for the love of Thor, need us! We don't have anything cool to do today!" Tuffnut hollered. Hiccup rolled his eyes and mounted up on Toothless to patrol the Edge. The two weren't able to see any trace of her from the sky, so they decided to search on foot after that.
"Hey Astrid! Where did you go?" Hiccup called out as he entered the forests of the Edge. "I've been looking for you for hours!" Hiccup turned to Toothless.
"Where could she be, bud?" Toothless's ears suddenly picked up, and he started to run deeper into the forest. "Wait up!" Hiccup yelled to him. He followed Toothless into a clearing, and they both saw Astrid's practice targets standing around. Hiccup looked around more and let out a gasp when he saw Stormfly.
"Stormfly!" He yelled. "She's been struck by a dragon root arrow? But the Dragon Hunters disbanded! We need to get her help, Toothless. We'll ask Fishlegs to make the cure Dagur and I used for you." Hiccup then noticed a rolled up paper shoved through Stormfly's saddle. He immediately removed it and opened it. His hands shook with anger as he quickly read the note, then wordlessly mounted Toothless and headed back to the Clubhouse for help.
A ways across the ocean, Astrid and the hooded figure were pulling onto the dock of an island. Despite the better sunlight, Astrid realized he wore a mask over his face, and she was unable to recognize him at all from just being able to see his eyes. The figure lifted her out of the boat, and carried her a short ways to a wooden prison cell. Her ropes were cut, and she was shoved inside. There was already jugs of water and bread inside, almost as though the kidnapping had been planned in advance. After locking the cell, the figure turned to leave.
"You'd better open this door, right now!" Astrid yelled to him. He turned around and looked at her.
"You're not in the position to be making demands."
"You're going to regret everything when my friends come after me, Hiccup is going to-" Astrid was cut off by the figure taking his mask off.
"Hiccup is only going to pay for his deeds."
"You're one of the bounty hunters that tried to sell Hiccup to Viggo! Everyone knows Viggo's dead, why would you care about Hiccup anymore?"
"Nobody will ever attempt to kill me and walk away free. His Night Fury will be mine. And the boy will live forever in guilt knowing he sacrificed his dragon to save you."
"Hiccup will outsmart you, just as he has every one of his enemies. You're the one going to pay for your deeds."
"He will have no choice but to pick you or the dragon. Not until after a week has passed and he has given up hope of seeing you again will I issue the trade. The boy's emotions will be his downfall." Krogan left the prison, no longer wishing to talk to Astrid.
Back at the Edge, Hiccup and Toothless had just flown in from the forest. They saw the twins sitting with Barf and Belch outside their hut.
"Ruffnut and Tuffnut! Stormfly's injured, go bring her from the forest back to the Clubhouse immediately!" Seeing how serious he was, the twins flew off instantly to help Stormfly. Hiccup rounded up Fishlegs and Snotlout, and by the time the three were in the Clubhouse, the twins had arrived back with Stormfly.
"Everyone, Astrid's been kidnapped and Stormfly was struck with a dragon root arrow last night."
"But how?" Fishlegs asked. "The dragon hunters disbanded!"
"Somebody's still out there, and they took Astrid!" Hiccup showed everyone the short note. "Look, it says 'I have the girl', signed by 'Krogan'. It doesn't even say where this Krogan person took her to or what he wants! We need to heal Stormfly and go looking for Astrid! We don't know what danger she could be in right now!"
"All right, what do we need to do?" Snotlout asked.
"We can't waste any time." Hiccup replied. "Fishlegs and Snotlout, you two make the cure for Stormfly, and make sure she recovers. Ruff, Tuff, we'll go to Caldera Cay and see what Mala and Throk can tell us about the name Krogan."
"Ooh, did you pick us so we would keep your spirits lifted on the search?" Tuffnut innocently asked.
"No, idiots, he picked you so you wouldn't blow up the Edge while he was away." Snotlout responded.
"Okay, it doesn't matter who I picked for what! We just need to get moving!" Hiccup yelled.
"You got it, boss man. Barf and Belch are ready when you are." Ruffnut said.
Hiccup, Ruffnut, and Tuffnut flew to Caldera Cay as fast as they could, making record time in their arrival.
"Hiccup Haddock, always a pleasure to see you again." Mala greeted him.
"Mala, I come with trouble. Last night Astrid was kidnapped at the Edge, and this is the only thing we have to go by." Hiccup said as he handed the note to her.
"Krogan, that name is vaguely but painfully familiar."
"My Queen, I know who Krogan is." Throk said. "That is the hunter that had stolen Hiccup from me just as I had rescued him."
"What? The guy at the auction is Krogan? And now he's taken Astrid! Oh when I find him I'll have Toothless-"
"Whoa, Hiccup." Both the twins said together. "You're not exactly the violent type. We'll get her back, but anger is not going to help. Trust me." Ruffnut said.
"They are absolutely correct." Mala said. "You must not let your emotions get in the way of finding Astrid."
"Right, I'm sorry."
"Unfortunately I do not have any other information about Krogan." Throk said. "He is by far the most mysterious hunter in the archipelago."
"And what was on the note isn't helping us at all right now." Hiccup groaned.
"We can only wish you luck and good fortune in finding his whereabouts. I will leave you to figuring out where to begin looking." After Mala and Throk returned to looking after the village, Hiccup decided to sit down, and the twins joined him on both sides of him.
"We'll get her back, you know." Tuffnut said sincerely.
"Yeah, we've gotten you back after all your kidnappings, and Astrid's way tougher than you!" Ruffnut added.
"Gee, thanks." Hiccup remarked. "I have no doubts that she's not showing any signs of weakness to Krogan. But he could be just as dangerous as Viggo, and every second she's with him counts."
"So where do you think they are?" Tuffnut asked.
"That's what I'm trying to figure out. They wouldn't be on the Dragon Hunter island, but that still leaves a huge amount of places they could be. We'll just have to keep searching island to island until one of us finds them." Hiccup said.
"We'll go tell Fishlegs and Snotlout to start looking as soon as Stormfly's okay. You go ahead and start searching for where you think they might be." Ruffnut said.
"Tell everyone to be back to the Edge by sundown. Nobody is to be on their own at night until Astrid's safely back. The last thing I need is somebody getting lost." Hiccup and Toothless took off past Caldera Cay, while the twins returned to the Edge, all hoping for the best to happen.
After searching the entire day, an exhausted Hiccup and Toothless had to return to the Edge with no luck. Some good news came at least, Stormfly had recovered well from the attack and seemed as determined as they were to get Astrid back. Despite all the riders searching, after a week none of them had been able to find where Astrid was being held. The gang had met up again for breakfast one morning, and Hiccup angrily stomped in to get something to eat.
"Where could he have taken her?!" He yelled.
"Hiccup, please, we've all been doing all we can. We just haven't gotten lucky enough to find her yet." Fishlegs said.
"I know, I know! It's just that, I really miss her, okay?"
"Well of course you do." Snotlout replied. "We all know how important she is to you." Toothless brushed against Hiccup's side, comforting him. "See? Even Toothless knows."
"The thing is, we'll have to search even further for her than we have before. Things are potentially about to get way more dangerous than I would like. I just wish she was here."
Thankfully, a Terrible Terror flew into the Clubhouse with a letter.
"Ah! A terror mail!" Hiccup quickly removed the letter from the dragon, gave it a pat, and opened the letter. "The girl and I have moved to Dragon Hunter Island. We are at the abandoned dragon fighting arena. Come alone or she perishes."
"They must have just moved there!" Fishlegs said. "We had made sure to check, and they weren't there before."
"I have to go immediately. And I'm not taking any risks, all of you are staying here."
"Are you sure?" Tuffnut asked. "What if it's a trap?"
"I'll be careful. You all heard what Krogan wrote. I have to find them and find some way to rescue Astrid from him."
"You've got this! We'll see you back here with Astrid." All the riders said. Hiccup and Toothless prepared everything they knew they would need, and flew to Dragon Hunter Island. Some time later, they had finally reached the abandoned dragon fighting arena. Krogan seemed ready for them, they immediately saw that the opening to the arena was open. Hiccup took a deep breath and directed Toothless down, hoping for a miracle in leaving with both Astrid and Toothless unharmed. The two landed inside the arena, and met face to face with Krogan. His hood was up, but he wore no mask knowing there was no need to hide his identity from Hiccup. Krogan was wielding a crossbow and had his axe attached to his back. Hiccup remained on Toothless as he stared down Krogan.
"Where's Astrid?" Hiccup demanded.
"Look up." Astrid was tied in ropes and suspended from the wire ceiling of the arena. She had a gag over her mouth and Hiccup then realized she had been letting out muffled shouts that were hard to hear from the distance upwards she was hanging. Hiccup and Toothless were just about to fly up to her, but Krogan immediately pointed his crossbow at her.
"Don't fly to her. I will shoot her and then you. I do not miss." Hiccup swallowed a gulp, one wrong move and Astrid could be done for. He knew his only option was to talk with Krogan and figure out some way to avoid any losses.
"What are you after, Krogan?"
"The Night Fury. I was promised the Night Fury at the auction and it will be mine."
"Not an option. Berk has more gold than ever. I will give you as much as you desire for letting Astrid go."
"No. The Night Fury for the girl. You are not leaving with both." Krogan stared down Hiccup intently, certain on the trade. Hiccup could not think of how he could get out of this. He knew Krogan was fast enough to shoot Astrid or themselves if they attempted to attack him. He so wanted to attack him though, Hiccup could handle being a captive after all his experiences, but seeing his friends in danger drove him crazy. So much crazy that he suddenly thought of his last chance in leaving with both Toothless and Astrid.
"I have a new proposal, and you are going to like these terms." Krogan merely scowled, but Hiccup continued. "I challenge you to a fight. If I win, Astrid, Toothless, and I all leave without you pursuing us. If I lose, you must let Astrid go, but I will surrender Toothless and myself to you."
"HNGGHP NHH MDNHT!" Astrid insulted through her gag, hearing what he said.
"You are a fool. You speak before you think." Krogan responded.
"Accept my challenge. You could have ownership of Toothless and I both. It's a risk I'm willing to take for a chance to defeat you in battle."
"You are not nearly as wise as others speak. Viggo was a worthless tactician for falling at the hands of you. I will accept your unwise decision." While still pointing his bow at Astrid, Krogan retrieved a muzzle and threw it to Hiccup. "Muzzle the dragon. Then lock him in the arena cell." Hiccup reluctantly muzzled Toothless, always despising having to do so. He lead Toothless to the cell, Toothless showing extreme worry.
"You have to stay in here, bud. He could kill Astrid if you come to help me. I'll try my best. Hopefully Odin, Thor, and the other gods will give me a miracle." Hiccup gave Toothless a quick hug then locked his dragon behind the gate. Krogan had moved near the entrance of the arena, and had discarded his bow to exchange it for his axe. Hiccup held his Gronckle Iron shield in his right hand, and Inferno in his left. He stood as tall as he could and tried to look like a formidable opponent. Astrid watched in fear for Hiccup, knowing he was likely to get himself killed fighting Krogan. She desperately wanted to escape her bonds, but not only were the ropes too secure, she also could fall to her death by slipping out of the ropes. She could only hope Hiccup would somehow find a way to win. Hiccup ignited Inferno and stared Krogan in the eyes. "Let's do this."
Hiccup and Krogan both began to quickly sidestep around each other, looking for a good opening to get an attack on the other. Krogan knew Hiccup's shield would be a problem, but it wouldn't be a challenge to remove it from him at all. He sprinted towards the shield to remove it, but Hiccup unexpectedly shot out a bola that wrapped around Krogan's legs, causing him to slip to the ground. Hiccup tried to capitalize on his surprise attack by attacking with Inferno, but Krogan defended himself with his axe in time, catching the fiery blade. He flung Hiccup backwards off of him, and shook off the bolas from his legs. Krogan started to swing his axe at Hiccup's head, and the dragon rider was barely dodging the attacks. The muffled shouts from Astrid helped keep him alert, and motivating what he was working for. Krogan continued to chase Hiccup around the arena, not giving Hiccup another chance to attack at all. Toothless was banging on the locked cell, but Hiccup had ensured it wouldn't open to keep Toothless safe. Hiccup was getting worn out from all the dodging, and Krogan was seemingly not fazed at all.
Krogan was beginning to close in on Hiccup and corner him. Hiccup held up his shield, and Krogan charged into him, effectively knocking the shield out of Hiccup's hand and causing it to launch a bit away. Hiccup wielded Inferno as best he could, trying to use the flames to burn his foe. Hiccup managed to keep up with Krogan's movement, and their weapons collided far more than in his brief fight with Krogan before. Krogan managed to tackle Hiccup, knocking him to the ground and holding him down. Inferno had fallen a little bit nearby, but Krogan's knees were pinning Hiccup's arms to the ground. Krogan made a shallow cut on Hiccup's throat with his axe, and Astrid let out a shriek. Hiccup yelled in pain, even though the cut was shallow, it still stung.
"You never should have issued a challenge so foolish. I could kill you right now. But you offered to serve me, and serve me you shall. You have lost, Hiccup Haddock. You and your dragon belong to me." Krogan then gave a smirk. "I'm also going to kill the girl. Think of it as your punishment for the trouble you caused me."
"AAAHHHH!" After hearing this, Hiccup found energy he never would have guessed he had. He used all the strength he had to throw Krogan off of him, knocking his opponent to the ground. Hiccup quickly retrieved Inferno, and swung the still ignited sword at Krogan's hood, tearing the hood and causing it to catch on fire. Krogan shouted in pain as flames burned at his face and shoulders, and he desperately tried to remove the hood from his body. Hiccup ran to retrieve his shield, and quickly changed it into crossbow mode. Krogan had just removed his cloak and was charging at Hiccup with his axe, enraged. Hiccup then did something he had never done before. He loaded Inferno into his shield, and shot it like an arrow at Krogan's chest. As it was flying, Hiccup suddenly realized that in his panic he had loaded the sword in backwards, with the handle facing Krogan. Fortunately, the handle struck Krogan with so much force that it blew him into the wall of the arena. Krogan then fell forward to the ground.
Hiccup ran over to his opponent, checking to see if he was still alive. He felt a pulse still going, but fortunately it seemed the impact had rendered Krogan defeated. Hiccup quickly rushed over to Toothless's cell, ripped it open and pulled his muzzle off.
"It's okay, bud. We made it through. Let's go get Astrid." Hiccup and Toothless flew up to Astrid, and Hiccup used Inferno to cut the rope she was dangling from, and pulled her into his arms. He removed the gag from her mouth.
"I would so punch you right now if I wasn't tied up!" She yelled. "You are way too dorky to have done something as cool as what you did."
"For once I agree that you should punch me. Me, challenging a bounty hunter to a fight? It's the most unreal thing I've done."
"Hiccup, look! He's gone!" Astrid yelled. Hiccup looked down and to his surprise Krogan had escaped.
"No! Toothless, we have to go after him before he gets away!" The three flew out of the arena, but Krogan had already fled from their sights.
"How could I let him get away? I swore he was unconscious!"
"It's okay, Hiccup. We all made it out alive." Once Hiccup realized Krogan had fled the island, he untied the ropes restraining Astrid.
"I'm so sorry I made you go through all of this." she said.
"No, no, Astrid. You have nothing to be sorry for. This is what we do. When one of us is in trouble, the other will not rest until they're safe. We're at the point where worrying about these situations is just going to be another part of our lives."
"I know. I just wish we could truly have some peace without any trouble."
"Me too. But we'll learn from this. We'll always be alert no matter what we're doing, no matter who we've already defeated. Krogan will surely return again, but we'll be more ready than ever."
"Hiccup, your neck is bleeding. Let me see the cloth you're holding." Astrid took the cloth and held it against his neck, stopping the bleeding. They began their flight back to the Edge on Toothless.
"If anyone doesn't think you're brave, they're going to get their head ripped off."
"Thanks, Astrid. I've had way too much violence for one day though." With that remark, Hiccup, Astrid, and Toothless flew back to the Edge, relieved to be united again.