Disclaimer: Nope. Obviously I own no characters here I just do this out of habit.

Author's Note: Let's see how far this goes.

Zooming through the halls of the castle and purposely knocking things off the wall, "the unholy offspring of lighting and death itself" gently plopped down in front of his best friend's father.

"Dad, could you get Skullcrusher?" said Hiccup, dismounting the dragon, "I need to show you something."

Toothless slunk off to his favorite corner in that room and made himself comfortable. They'd been flying all morning. Not that he wasn't used to that, of course. Toothless had flown all day every day for the first fifteen years of his life but those weren't always the most pleasant of flights, as most of them involved spending a great deal of time avoiding humans. But now that humans were no longer a threat, he could take as many periodic naps as he wanted. He closed his eyes and listened to the scene that unfolded around him.

"Hiccup! Just the man I wanted to see. Did you think any more about my offer?"

"Well, a little… but Toothless and I found something you should probably take a look at."

"Good!" Stoick seemed to have completely missed that last part. "It's about time you take your rightful place on the throne of the Wilderwest."

"That would be nice but right now we've got bigger problems."

Again Stoick seemed too excited for his boy to understand the big picture. Hadn't that always been the way with those two? It warmed the dragon's heart to now know for sure that his best friend's father cared for him in a way that Hiccup could never fully understand.

"Aw, son, I've dreamed of this for you for so long. If only your mother could see you now! Queen Valka would have been so proud!"

"Dad-"

"When you were born, Hiccup, I was so worried. How could I ever teach you everything you needed to know to be King when I didn't even know what to do myself?" He let out a wild guffaw. "But you practically taught yourself everything! You're ready, son! And I couldn't be more proud of you!"
"Dad! Toothless and I have reason to believe that Dagur is back!"

There was a thick, long silence in which Toothless almost fell asleep until Stoick broke it with "What do you mean he's back?"

"I mean, apparently it takes a little more than a few Exterminator dragons to rid the Wilderwest of that Beserk."

Their most recent encounter with him involved his foolishly dangerous idea to conquer the Exterminator dragons on Lava-Lout Island and use them to take on their castle at Berk. They ended up turning on him. It had not been a pretty sight.

Toothless had never been afraid of Dagur but it wasn't until recently that he had grown afraid for him. If Dagur had been a Viking of the tribes near Toothless' birthplace, he was sure he would have had a fearsome name like "Dagur the Deranged". Not only was he truly deranged, but he was relentless. For three whole years, he stopped at nothing to get his hands on Toothless and Hiccup. But Toothless would never let him get his hands on his prince. He wondered if Dagur's persistence had wavered.

"Are you sure?" Stoick asked, trying to stay strong, but Toothless could tell he was terrified for the safety of his son and the entire Wilderwest.

"Let me show you."

The dragon opened his eyes. The prince always said that, like some sort of cue.

He groaned a little. Here we go.

Toothless would have preferred not to return to that mountain. It was dangerous enough with all the wild dragons so rare that Hiccup didn't even know about them. But when you added Dagur to the equation, this mess looked like a job for the King of the Wilderwest.

Hiccup if you plan to come back here again, make at least bring Stormfly and Astrid!

"I know, bud. This place gives me the creeps too."

Excuse me your highness but that is NOT what I said. You know nothing. How dare you assume that I would be afraid. Rude.

"Are we getting closer?" Toothless heard the king bellow from atop the Rumblehorn.

"Not much farther, Dad," Hiccup called, "Come on, bud." he whispered soothingly as he adjusted his tail for a dive. Together, the prince and the Night Fury sailed the wind down the mountain, the king and the Rumblehorn following. Toothless' sharp dragon eyes could see the sign of Dagur before the others could.

At the base of the largest mountain was a stone with an unmistakable carving on it.

The Skrill.

Hey Hiccup, there it is.

As they drew closer, the dragons could sense that it was not safe to land. So when they wanted to take a closer look, Toothless and Skullcrusher hovered in the air.

It was unmistakably the symbol of the Beserk province. A dragon about the size of Toothless and just as feared… if not, feared even more.

Underneath the symbol was a tiny opening, large enough for Toothless and his scrawny Hiccup to crawl through. As the humans of Toothless' homeland would say "there would be no way in Valhalla" that Skullcrusher or Stoick could fit through there. Unless…

Toothless looked up at his prince. He was smiling sideways at him.

Ohhh no.

The shot would have to be so precise or else it would send the entire mountain crashing down. He had one chance to make this…

"Toothless, fire." He whispered.

With an eye roll, he said, Really, Hiccup? I had no idea. Concentrating hard, he fired. Above, below, and all around them shook the stones. Both Skullcrusher and Toothless growled.

In moments like this, Hiccup showed his amazing ability to speak to all dragons without words. The prince put a hand on Toothless scales as if to say "Easy, bud," and it soothed him in some strange way.

But after a moment, the rumbling stopped. Underneath the carving of the Skrill was an opening just barely large enough for all of them.

Hiccup scratched Toothless behind his horns. He could almost hear him saying "Thanks, bud" in that weird Dragonese way, dismounted, and the four of them crawled into the mountain. Although Toothless would have preferred to show the way through the darkness, in this situation it was best to be as stealthy as possible. Instead, Hiccup took the lead, brandishing his remarkable sword made of fire. Toothless had watched Hiccup make these ridiculous contraptions and had heard him explain their mechanics to countless humans but he still had no idea how that crazy thing worked! He hated to admit it but the thing impressed him every time.

They crept through this tunnel for a while in silence, too worried to make a sound. After a long while, Toothless' ears detected the squeal of a Mountain Terrible Terror.

We must be getting close. Toothless whispered.

And soon enough even Stoick, who had grown hard of hearing, could hear the beating of dragon wings and a cacophony of squawking of all types. A purplish glow appeared ahead.

Woah, Hiccup, do you see that? He asked as he looked to Hiccup. The glow of Hiccup's fiery sword illuminated the prince's face and he did not seem fazed by this unearthly glow coming from the end of the tunnel. This confirmed his hypothesis that there were some colors dragons could see that humans couldn't. He thought to himself Too bad for you. It's actually quite beautiful.

But as they drew closer to the light, the sight ahead of them became clearer and it was nowhere close to pretty: a cave full of dragons of every color, variety, and age. Ledges upon ledges of dragons as far as the eye could see. Toothless had never seen so many dragons in one place.

Upon noticing the dreadful sight, Stoick gasped in horror because every dragon lay shackled, chained to the floor of the cave, wings bound, helplessly struggling to break free. In the center of this prison stood a massive stone structure; a newly constructed castle, the towers reaching up so high they touched the top of the mountain.

Then a cry made the spines on Toothless' back shoot up. After the battle they'd had with it all those years ago, neither Toothless nor Hiccup could forget that blood-curdling shriek.

He whispered to his father, "The Skrill."