Stoick didn't quite agree with the entire idea to do patrols in the early morning, and late at night, but was convinced enough when they were attacked more than once by the Outcasts. Stoick then hesitantly agreed, allowing the teens of the village to go out on their own. He trusted them that they would come back immediately if something was fishy.

Which was why Snotlout already wanted to turn back to Berk. Astrid, however, ordered him to stay and check out the suspicious boat further.

The only sound that could be heard by the two dragon riders was their dragons' wings flapping, and the distant chatter of men on the boat down below them. They seemed to be getting more and more anxious with a Monstrous Nightmare, and Deadly Nadder above them, which was shocking. Obviously.

"Maybe we should turn back. Chief will, uh," Snotlout sneaked a peak from behind his dragons' horns. "Be pretty mad if we don't report this."

"What is there to report, Snotlout?" Astrid retorted, glaring over at the cowering boy.

Snotlout shrugged. "They seem pretty fishy... is that a cannon? M-Maybe we should go. They clearly don't want to be bothered."

Astrid rolled her eyes, flying closer to the boat filled with unknown Vikings. "What? Are you not man enough for this? Besides, anyone with a brain would get a cannon out if there were two dragons circling around them," Astrid called out the Snotlout. "Our job is to patrol, which requires checking in with sailors who pass close by."

Snotlout let his jaw drop slightly, offended. He then frowned, sitting up straighter in his saddle. Of course, he was man enough! His eyes danced along the surface of the boat, checking for any specific faces from the Outcasts.

When he was finally satisfied, he followed Astrid, who was waiting not-so-patiently below him and went closer to the boats. The men inside instantly started to panic, gathering their best weapons in order to fight off the approaching dragons.

"Woah! Wait, we aren't here to fight!" Astrid exclaimed from atop Stormfly. The Vikings looked shocked and agitated. They held their fire, as, what seemed to be, a leader pushed everyone aside to the front. He held out a sword, letting out a snarl.

Astrid had to hold back her own gasp as she looked at the man's face. He had a large scar from the top left corner of his face, to the bottom right. The top half was littered with cuts and bruises, whilst the bottom was smooth and flawless. It was an odd sight to see, to match his half-shaved head with what looked to be a side of a bowl cut on the other side. Astrid didn't know whether to be intimated or giggle.

"You," The man had to take another breath, sounding ragged, and uneven. Snotlout raised an eyebrow. "Are on... those things!"

"Dragons?" Snotlout asked, sounding like he was explaining something simple to a four-year-old.

"Y-Yes," He let out a cough. "How? We were almost eaten at least three times in the last hour."

Astrid's eyebrows furrowed, because usually the dragons close to Berk were calm, and kept to themselves.

"Did you attack them?" Her voice was hardened as she asked the question.

"No," One of the other men yelled out to her. He looked like he desperately needed food and a good night's rest. "They were flying past us... and they suddenly switched directions and attacked us."

Astrid landed Stormfly on their boat, and so did Snotlout. The men on the boat immediately were curious, laying their hands upon their dragon's scales. As Snotlout and Astrid observed the group of people that were now curious, and in awe, she noticed they all didn't look too well. Most of them were in ripped clothing and were either extremely skinny or extremely muscled. However, they all looked like they were about to collapse.

"Um, what happened to all of you? Surely some dragon didn't do that to you," Snotlout commented, leaning on Hookfang.

They both weren't sure why, but it seemed like they didn't need to be worried around this specific group of people. They were worn down, but their eyes lit up like a child on Christmas as they got to inspect the creatures further. It was almost as if they hadn't seen one before.

"We..." The 'leader' started but trailed off. He glanced around at the people around him. There was twelve of them. "It wasn't dragons. The only thing that the dragons damaged were the cannons, and the sails a bit."

Snotlout inspected the cannons, noticing the metal was slightly damaged, and falling apart, while the sails were barely holding together. There was no way these men could make it to shore.

Snotlout and Astrid shared a confused glance.

"Was there anything there that could have agitated them?" Astrid asked they all glanced at each other.

"There was another ship..." Astrid looked at him to continue, but he made no move to. That's when Snotlout cut in.

"Not to be rude, but you guys look like sheep shi-"

"Snotlout!"

"Poop."

The 'leader' chuckled uneasily. "Where do you guys come from?" He didn't answer the question. "Are you with Trygve?" His eyes hardened, with the hint of fear in his voice.

"Trygve?" Snotlout asked, quirking his head to the side.

"We come from Berk. We have no idea who that is." She held her hands out in like taming a dragon, in a way of surrender. "Berk is a village not too far from here, we are peaceful if that's what you're asking."

Though they obviously weren't completely trusting, they did ease up a bit. It was strange to Astrid, as they didn't do anything to trigger that defense, but somehow the people were getting skittish with that question.

"Did... Trygve do this to you? You all don't look to be in the best shape."

The smallest Viking shifted uneasily when their leader didn't answer. "I don't know if we should answer that."

"I think that's enough of an answer," Snotlout let out a cocky chuckle. "Whoever this Trygve is, is definitely not good enough for the Vikings of Berk," He gave a bodybuilder pose, making one of the spooked Vikings let out a small giggle.

Astrid rolled her eyes for what felt like the millionth time in the last twenty minutes and went back to the task at hand.

"Do you all want to stay at Berk while you rest, and get your strength back? Perhaps we could help you with this 'Trygve' man," Astrid tried her best to smile sweetly, but smiling wasn't quite her thing. "We could pull your ship with our dragons."

All the men- or as Astrid now could tell they were all just older than her, boys looked around at each other. They nodded as a group, deeming Astrid and Snotlout trustworthy.


"We were patrolling and we came across their boat. We decided to check them out just in case, and it seems to be a good idea that we did," Astrid gestured to the beaten boys behind her. "They were all starving and dehydrated... they wouldn't have lasted another day at sea."

Snotlout nodded, chewing his food. "Yeah, plus there's that Trygve person they seem to be so wary about."

"Trygve?" Hiccup asked, frowning at the name. He's never heard of someone like that, and this person was obviously not someone who they've come across before. "Did they tell you anything about him?"

Astrid shook her head. "No, it didn't seem like they really wanted to. They're terrified."

"Hm," Stoick grumbled. "Maybe he's with Alvin."

Astrid shrugged, not really knowing. "We could just ask them," Snotlout suggested as if it were the obvious choice.

"We would," Fishlegs said, looking at his hands. "But as Astrid said, they don't seem too keen on explaining their situation." Fishlegs frowned. "But back to the dragon attack, that's not like the dragons to do that without being provoked."

"They said there was another ship but failed to tell us who they were."

Snotlout put his arm around Astrid. "Oh, babe, have you considered the possibility that they simply don't know who they were?" The girls' eyes narrowed in annoyance and grabbed his arm. Immediately, Snotlout knew what was about to take place, and gritted his teeth in preparation. Astrid then proceeded to twist his arm, as Snotlout exclaimed in pain.

"Shut up, Snotlout. They obviously know them," Astrid let him fall to the ground. Hiccup grimaced with sympathy as Snotlout wheezed on the floor. "They were trying to hide something, the same way Hiccup does."

"Wha-?" Hiccup's jaw dropped with indignation.

"You're a terrible liar, and even worse at hiding things."

Hiccup's jaw shut with a snap and rolled his eyes with sass. "I hid Toothless from all of Berk for a long time."

Gobber let out a snort. "Yet ya can't keep yer mouth shut whenever I ask ya where the last of my dried frui' 'as gone."

Hiccup shifted uncomfortably and laughed nervously.

"That's not the point, Gobber," Stoick cut in. "You think that they know who set off the dragons and yet they won't tell us? Could they be a potential threat?"

"From the sounds of it," Fishlegs said, his fingers tapping anxiously on the table. "I think the people who did this, whatever this is, to them, were the ones who made the dragons go feral."

Med Hall was silent after that, the boys who were sleepily slurping at their soup had stopped and were anxiously looking at each other. They seemed uncomfortable at these unknown people discussing theories about them.

It was late at night when Astrid and Snotlout had brought them back from the sea, and Stoick immediately gathered a few people to discuss the situation. Since it was Dragon Riders who found these boys, Stoick made sure it would stay that way. He didn't need the rest of the village to get ready for an attack that wasn't going to happen.

So, the boys from the ship, Astrid, Snotlout, Hiccup, Fishlegs, Gobber, and Stoick were all in Med Hall, without any other villagers. Of course, the villagers had originally wanted to know what was happening, but Stoick, being chief, had sent them away.

"If they aren't going to tell us anything," Hiccup said, his eyes flickering to the group of boys huddled around a table. "Then we should go check it out."

Stoick had immediately replied. "No," Hiccup refrained himself from letting out an exasperated groan. "We don't want to risk it being Alvin."

"So, what?" Hiccup said, raising an eyebrow. "We have dragons dad, remember? I doubt whoever this is, even if its Alvin, will be able to catch us. Besides," Hiccup scooted closer to his father. "We won't engage, we'll just check it out to see. Then we'll come back with a bit more information about the, uh, as you call it, potential threat."

Stoick sighed, looking at Gobber for input. He simply shrugged, which was why Fishlegs cut in. "Yeah, I think it's a good idea. Just to see if it is Outcasts or not."

That was when the smallest of the beaten boys had spoken out from their huddled group. "You shouldn't do that."

"W-Why not?" Hiccup was confused and decided to stand up from his spot at the table and took a few steps closer to the group of boys.

The smaller boy took a deep breath and then bit his lip. "They kill dragons for fun. I've seen them capture dragons by simply firing one arrow at them. They-They aren't to be 'just checked out' as you guys say. They will take it as an attack whether you come near them or not," The Viking said, standing. As he stood, Hiccup noticed that their smallest group member was still taller than him.

"Why?"

"I don't know. They're monsters. But they are definitely a threat to, uh, Berk is it?"

Hiccup nodded. "Well, then we kind of have to check them out, right gang? Any threat to Berk needs to be taken care of as soon as possible."

Stoick opened his mouth to respond, obviously not going to agree with Hiccups reasoning, however, Gobber cut him off. "I think they should. The boy 'as a nigh'fury for Thor's sake! No Viking has gotten to take tha' one down!"

The chief didn't seem to like the idea but had to think of the good of Berk as well. He reluctantly agreed for the dragon riders to check out the threatening ship. However, he ordered them to not go any closer than they have to and to not engage them if the ships fire at them.

"I'm Hiccup," Hiccup finally said after being allowed to check out the ships. "What's your name?"

"Ulf," The smallest boy said, a small smile on his face. "That's my dad, our, as he likes to say, leader," Ulf chuckled a bit.

"Name's Vidar." Hiccup shook both of their hands, and the rest of the beaten boys had introduced themselves. They all seemed to be fairly quiet, and shy. Of course, as common courtesy, the Berkians had introduced themselves as well.

"You all will head out a night, tomorrow. It will give you an advantage with Toothless, alright?" Stoick said, putting his hand on Hiccups shoulder.

Hiccup nodded, smiling at Ulf. "Yep, Toothless is a night fury. He can go undetected at night."

"I thought they were a fairy tale," Ulf looked eagerly towards Hiccup.

"Maybe you should meet him?" He looked at Stoick for an OK, and once he was given one, Hiccup gently pulled Ulf out to meet his best friend.

"I think Hiccup has taken a liking to Ulf?" Gobber said.

"Yeah, he has." Stoick's eyes narrowed at the door. "You all better not be here to hurt Berk, or I will personally throw you all into the ocean."

All the beaten Viking's eyes widened and shook their heads violently.

"No, Chief Stoick," Vidar said, frowning. "Trygve is the one you should be worried about."