Chapter 2 – It Begins

Credit for this dare belongs to JDunks807.

Across a blue sky and over an equally blue ocean, a total of eighteen winged shapes – a mix of flying Pokemon and monsters – soared toward the destination that had been selected for their upcoming challenge. Everyone's eyes were forward, staring in surprise at the location Drageist had sent them to. It was… unexpected, to say the least.

Looming on the horizon was an island, its familiar shape rising up out of the ocean. A tall mountain rose from its center to touch the clouds, buildings clustered together on its slopes, and carved Viking statues emerged from the waves with their weapons held at the ready, acting as the gatekeepers to this familiar land.

"This is Berk," boomed Drageist, flying above the collection of Go-Getters and Monster Riders. "It's five days north of Hopeless and a few degrees south of Freezing To Death. It's located solidly on –"

"WE KNOW!"

The resounding shout came from the entire party of cross-dimensional travelers – those that were able to speak, anyway.

The Giratina, who had automatically transformed into his heavier Altered Form upon exiting the Distortion World, looked away and grumbled under his breath. "Sure, spoil my moment, why don't you… never mind that I've always wanted to give that introduction…"

The fact that Drageist had simply brought them all back home was unexpected and raised quite a few questions in everyone's heads. For example, which version of Berk was this? And why Berk, when he could've picked any other island?

Unbeknownst to the Monster Riders, Team Go-Getters was feeling a bit apprehensive about this, only for a much different reason. The incident with Mastermind that had occurred in their universe… well, it'd be a long time before they forgot it. Drageist bringing them to Berk reminded them vividly of how they'd ended up in the Monster Riders' universe and been forced to work together to battle the multidimensional alliance of villains that had been summoned to destroy them. The Monster Riders themselves had no memory of this adventure – but the Go-Getters did, and they sincerely hoped that this meeting wouldn't completely go to Helheim like the last one had.

With this in mind, Trainer Hiccup patted Toothless on the neck and steered the Night Fury up to speak with Drageist. But when he spoke his mind, what he got was an amused glance in return.

"I know what I'm doing, young Hiccup," the Giratina rumbled. Despite his voice's natural volume being higher than most due to his immense size, he kept it quiet enough so that only the Haddock boy could hear it. "Unlike last time, this meeting was planned and the circumstances carefully thought out. If a villain capable of harnessing the powers of time and space decides to strike at you children again… well, that'd just be the result of horrible, horrible luck."

"Oh yes, like we're total strangers to that," Hiccup quipped, prompting Drageist to chuckle at him.

Upon landing in Berk's central plaza, everyone's biggest question was answered. Specifically, that this version of Berk wasn't either of theirs.

"I specifically selected this Berk for a few reasons," Drageist informed them all. "Bringing you here will provide you with a familiar, comfortable environment, and won't have any effect at all on either of your timelines."

Rider Hiccup dismounted from Sightless and, after giving the Gore Magala a reassuring pat on the head, looked around the plaza with a cautious eye. There was no unusual activity in the slightest, despite the very noticeable gathering of Pokemon and monsters in one relatively small place. Although there were a few villagers ambling around, none of them responded at all to their arrival. It was as if two Hiccups, two Astrids, and a collection of creatures from different universes visited here every day. Not even the giant Drageist drew any stares.

"They're… taking this awfully well," Ninjark commented, noticing how suspiciously normal everything felt.

"Are there monsters in this universe as well?" questioned Fishlegs.

"Or Pokemon?" added Blaze.

Drageist shook his head. "Neither of them – only dragons. I managed to enlist the help of a fellow Legendary Pokemon to make sure the villagers of this Berk were acclimatized to the presence of the more… unusual members of our group. Don't ask, it was a very complicated process."

Trainer Hiccup and Snivels exchanged a curious glance, wondering if it was Splice the Mewtwo who had helped out.

"Well," the Giratina boomed all of a sudden. "I really must be off. Make yourselves at home – meals are in the Meade Hall, and I also took the liberty of arranging a place for you all to sleep. There're some stables for your monsters, dragons, and Pokemon on the far side of the island, and a cabin where you'll have beds and an outhouse. Remember, I'll be watching out for you all. Later!"

With that abrupt goodbye, Drageist promptly floated up into the air, opened a portal back to the Distortion World, and left them all on their own. Rider Hiccup ran forward, but stopped himself moments before he would have shouted out to an empty sky. He dropped his raised arm with a sigh, and went over to Sightless to give the Gore Magala a reassuring pat on his smooth, armored back.

"Did you all just see how he left us high and dry like that?" snapped Snivels, his nose and tail twitching with outrage. "I mean, first he springs this dare war on us, and then just dumps us here?!"

Trainer Hiccup felt a bump on his arm, and saw that it was Toothless attempting to nuzzle him. He let the Night Fury nudge his head under his arm, and gave him a good scratch on the chin as a show of affection. While he did that, he noticed how all of the humans and talking Pokemon were sticking close to their mounts. The dragons, monsters, and non-speaking Pokemon all looked calm, though.

I guess it's like Drageist said – this is a familiar, comfortable environment, Trainer Hiccup mused. Well, for most of us anyway.

He gave Snivels a sympathetic glance, knowing how much the talkative Servine didn't like the village.

"Wh-What're we going to do?" Fishlegs was whimpering, pacing back and forth with nervousness. "W-We're stuck here on a Berk that isn't our Berk, a-and even though w-we only agreed to hear D-Drageist out on his idea, he's g-gone and left us without any m-more choice in the matter! Wh-What if we can never get back h-home?!"

His monster, Heatray, bent her neck towards him and let out a low, comforting rumble.

"Relax, you metal-head," Kickin' Hawk said, calmly but with an obvious amount of disdain. "Drageist has the power to easily bring us all back to our home worlds, and anyway, he is watching over us."

"This little game of his wouldn't be nearly as fun if he couldn't spectate," agreed Brandyn.

Just then, a sudden crashing noise sent him running after Ra and Camazotz to stop them from breaking things. Heather glanced left and right, then scurried after him when it was clear no-one else was going to help her totally-not-a-boyfriend rein in the energetic Solgaleo and Lunala. Adhesive followed her in turn, although the other Go-Getters knew the mischievous Poipole was likely only tagging along for the amusement potential.

"So now what?" Arachne hummed.

"Um, duh!" Snotlout yelled. "We go to the Meade Hall to eat! We haven't had any time to get lunch with all this crazy alternate world stuff going on!"

The Thorston twins cheered at the thought of gorging themselves and shared a head-bash. "Good idea!" said Tuffnut. "Then we can all start thinking up ways to humiliate each other in this awesome dare contest!"

"This is gonna be epic," snickered Ruff.

Both Astrids simultaneously rolled their eyes and muttered "Muttonheads…" under their breath. They heard each other, though, and immediately gave each other a suspicious glare.

Rider Astrid was the first to look away, distracted by a strange pendant that she'd just noticed around Trainer Astrid's neck. She'd have to ask about that later.

While they both hated to admit it, Rider Hiccup and Trainer Hiccup thought that the egotistical Jorgenson boy had a good point. They should take it slowly for now, fill their bellies, and then try to organize things from that point on.

"Monster Riders, does that all sound good to you?" Rider Hiccup asked his group.

"And you, Team Go-Getters?" Trainer Hiccup did likewise.

The two groups exchanged questioning glances amongst each other. The Monster Riders were the first bunch to come to an accord – all of them hungry and wanting some food to distract them from the weirdness they'd had to endure today. They gave their leader a unanimous nod. Meanwhile, the Go-Getters seemed a bit more apprehensive about the whole deal, none of them being comfortable with Berk, or Vikings in general, and some of them were a bit more impatient with Drageist and his idea of fun.

But, eventually, the Go-Getters settled on an agreement and gave their Hiccup a single nod.

"Okay, that's all settled then," announced Rider Hiccup, taking charge of the situation. "Let's all grab some food, then we'll take our monsters – oh, a-and dragons too – over to the far side of the island. I'm curious about what that Drageist has set up for us."

"Because he was never going to give us a chance to say no to this, I'll bet," Snivels muttered under his breath.

Brandyn, Heather, and Adhesive came back to the plaza after retrieving Ra and Camazotz, where they were given a brief rundown on the current state of affairs by Kickin' Hawk and Blaze. Once they were up to speed, everyone jumped into their saddles, mounting whatever giant flying creature they had with them. The Hiccups took the lead as they always did, rising into the air on their Night Fury and Gore Magala. Behind them, the others didn't bother trying to assemble into some sort of formation, and instead flew in a disorganized flock that followed the two scrawny, brown-haired Haddock boys toward the Meade Hall.

As it turned out, there was plenty of space in the Meade Hall for the whole group of Drageist's "guests" to sit and eat comfortably. The hall was largely unoccupied at this time of day, with most of the Berkians having finished their lunches already and going back to their daily lives in the village. By working together, the Monster Riders and Go-Getters pushed two tables together for them all to sit down, and pushed away the other tables so that the monsters, Pokemon, and dragons had enough space of their own to eat.

"We need to put the tables back where we found them after we're done," Kickin' Hawk dictated. "It'd be poor manners if we didn't clean up after ourselves."

Rolling his eyes, Snotlout grumbled, "I'll show you poor manners…"

When they were done rearranging the furniture, they went to get food. They only took plates for themselves after they'd gotten plenty for their mounts. Some, like Toothless and Blackhawk, were happy with a pile of fish. Others, like Stormfly and Snotsnarl, wanted meat. And then there were some oddballs like Twinhorn, Verne, and Wavern, who ate only vegetables or fruit.

"I don't think it'll be possible to have our partners with us every time we eat here," Snaketail commented, watching her Diablos munch on the cabbages she'd set out. "It's too much hassle to clear space like this, even more so to un-clear it like Bird Boy said."

"Drageist said something about stables earlier," mused Ninjark, ignoring Kickin' Hawk's indignant spluttering at the nickname he'd been given. "They'll probably have enough space to eat there while we have our meals here."

"Do we have to?" asked Snivels, wrinkling his pointy snout with distaste. A couple of the Pokemon made similar faces, silently agreeing with him.

The Servine felt a hand on his back, and he looked up to see Trainer Hiccup smiling sympathetically at him. "Let's not worry about that for now. At the moment, I'd say we have something more important to discuss."

Ruffnut and Tuffnut suddenly looked up, each with a chicken leg sticking out of their mouths. They mumbled something that sounded like "We didn't do it," but it was hard to tell with their faces stuffed like that.

With a the-twins-are-muttonheads expression, Rider Hiccup shook his head at them before addressing the rest of the group. "He's talking about the dare war. And I agree, we need to go over the rules and make sure everyone's okay with proceeding. The, uh… other Hiccup and I thought it'd be best to talk about it over lunch."

He got a series of nods and mutters of consideration all around the table as everyone agreed.

"So, the rules then," started Rider Astrid. Slamming her mug down on the table for emphasis, she counted on her fingers, "We're to divide into teams, pick who dares who, there's no revenge dares allowed, and we can only fail twice each before we're out of the game… anything else?"

"The person who got dared last gets to pick someone from the opposite team," Blaze remembered.

"And nothing dangerous!" Camazotz piped up cheerfully.

"Oh, and Cama and I count as one member on Team Go-Getters," added Ra, sharing a grin with his Lunala friend (whom he secretly had feelings for but wasn't quite brave enough to tell her).

Fishlegs seemed as though he was about to say something, then thought better of it and stayed silent. Trainer Hiccup noticed, and glanced at the Ingerman boy.

"You got something, Fishlegs?" he prompted.

"W-Well," the huskiest person present began, "I get the feeling we should keep our dares on the down-low as much as possible. I-I mean, even though this isn't really our Berk, it's still a village with people living in it."

That was a good point, and judging from some of the expressions around the table, a few of them hadn't actually thought of that.

"Good call," Rider Hiccup gave his fellow Monster Rider a nod of approval. "You hear that, guys? We should stick to causing as little property damage or public chaos as possible."

"But some property damage is okay, right?" asked Tuff, sounding hopeful.

"And public chaos?" Adhesive hinted.

Oh good gods, both Hiccups thought at the same time, judging from the identical eye-rolls they gave.

"As little as possible," Snivels glared at both of them. "Nothing that'll get you banished by the big Viking jerk in charge, alright?"

That statement was met by a number of weird looks from the Monster Riders, who knew nothing of how little Snivels liked a certain Stoick the Vast.

Perhaps to prevent the moment from becoming too awkward, Brandyn coughed loudly. Once all eyes were on him, he spoke up, "So, if we've got all the rules straight, I suppose it's time to pick who dares who?"

"I guess that's a solid course of action to take," admitted Rider Astrid. "Seeing as how we don't really have a choice but to go through with this, anyway."

What they needed, though, was a fair way to decide the first contestants. There was no way they'd be able to agree on who would start the dare war, especially with the mischievous twins and the competitive Snotlout and Snaketail all on the same team. Even a few of the Go-Getters looked more eager to get started than the others.

When the Hiccups brought up the issue, Fishlegs brightened unexpectedly quickly and said that he had a solution. Promising that he'd be back as soon as he could, he raced out of the Meade Hall with a speed belying his size.

By the time Fishlegs got back with something clutched in his hands, several minutes later, the Monster Riders and Go-Getters were in a heated discussion about what kinds of dares they wanted to give each other as part of the game. The two Astrids were giving each other challenging glares and promised not to hold back no matter what. Ruff and Tuff wanted to blow something up, or generally cause enough mayhem to make Loki proud. Ninjark insisted that his underpants idea should be used at some point, making Heather look at her Greninja partner with amusement. Even Snivels and Kickin' Hawk, who hadn't been too keen on the dare war to begin with, were starting to look interested as more dare suggestions were thrown around.

Maybe they've realized the appeal of being able to humiliate Snotlout and the twins, Trainer Hiccup reasoned, hiding a chuckle.

"Okay!" exclaimed Fishlegs, sitting back down. He placed the object in his hands onto the table, revealing it to be an upside-down Viking helmet. "I had to borrow my mom's helmet because mine wasn't big enough."

Those who were closest to Fishlegs leaned forward to peer inside the helmet, while those who were too far away had to get up and gather around. The inside of the helmet was filled with small, folded slips of parchment. As a demonstration, Fishlegs plucked one and unfolded it to reveal the name 'ADHESIVE' written in large Norse letters.

"I've got everyone's name written down and mixed up within the helmet in front of me," he explained carefully, and put Adhesive's slip back. "First, I'm going to determine who is going to make the first dare by randomly choosing a name. Then, I'll do the same thing again, this time to decide who gets to receive the dare. Does everyone understand?"

There were nods all around, and a few thumbs-up. Several of the contestants fidgeted or bounced up and down with excitement.

Fishlegs inhaled deeply, then let it out in a sigh. "Alright, let's get this over with, then," he said with a gulp of discomfort.

Everyone held their breath as he flexed his clammy fingers and proceeded to rustle around in the helmet, trying to make the selection as random as possible. At last, he fished out a piece of parchment and unfolded it.

"The one who gets to dare first is… Hiccup No. 2," he announced, flashing the name for everyone to see.

Rider Hiccup and Trainer Hiccup reacted exactly the same way, by blinking once and tilting their heads in complete bewilderment. Neither of them knew which one of them Fishlegs had labeled "number two".

"Oh, sorry," Fishlegs himself suddenly apologized, realizing his mistake. "Since me and the other riders already know a Hiccup, I decided to write down the other one as 'Hiccup No. 2'. So, that'd be you," he nodded to Trainer Hiccup.

"Ah," the leader of Team Go-Getters said, no longer confused. "Well, okay then. Guess this is happening."

Snotlout burst out laughing. "Oh man! You're Hiccup Two! That's gotta sting."

Snivels shot them a look of annoyance. "Really? That was the best you could come up with? If there's gonna be two of someone in this dare war, why not call each of them by some sort of code name? Like…" He paused to think for a moment before suggesting, "Dreki?"

"No!" Trainer Hiccup protested before burying his face in his hands. "Please, anything but that."

Adhesive opened his mouth to speak, only for Blaze to silence him with a glare. "We're not using Onomato."

The Poipole slumped down in disappointment.

"What about Triple H?" Kickin' Hawk suggested.

It was rather brilliant, except for one small detail. "Which Hiccup are we gonna refer to as that?" Ninjark asked.

The Hawlucha was silent for a moment before admitting, "I haven't figured that out yet."

Rider Astrid raised an eyebrow at the group. "This is an important conversation right now?"

At just that moment, Fishlegs took another name out of the helmet and read, "The one who receives Hiccup's dare will be Snotlout."

The arrogant Jorgenson's face immediately darkened. "Oh man…" he repeated, in a completely different tone.

Arachne jumped up in the air with an excited whoop. "We're starting with a classic Hiccup vs. Snotlout!" she cheered, applauding. "Come on, Hiccup Two, hit him with your best dare!"

"Yeah, hit me with your best dare!" Snotlout, well, dared his cousin's alternate self, going from disappointed to confident in no time at all. "I can take it!"

Trainer Hiccup didn't say anything at first, being too irritated with the nickname "Hiccup Two" and with Snotlout's general Snotlout-ness. He'd spent so much time away from Berk with the Go-Getters that he'd almost forgotten just how insufferable the Jorgenson could be. But what could he dare him with? Snotlout would go along with anything he suggested, no matter how stupid it was, and he'd either succeed and become even more boastful, or fail and take only a minimal blow to his pride.

His pride. That gave Trainer Hiccup a sudden flash of inspiration. He'd just figured out how he could take the muttonheaded braggart down in the very first round.

"Okay, I've got something," he stated. He stood up from his seat and faced Snotlout directly, who puffed out his chest, and gave him his challenge – "I dare you to admit that the Hiccup in your universe is a better Monster Rider than you are."

Instantly, the table became quiet. Snotlout deflated, an empty look in his eyes. The other Monster Riders, including their Hiccup, stilled themselves as if they'd been hit with Speed Stinger venom. The Go-Getters looked more openly shocked, staring at either Trainer Hiccup or Snotlout with their eyes almost bugging from their sockets.

"Wow," Blaze finally said. "That's good, Hiccup."

"I'd like to see Snotface pull this one off!" Snivels smirked, in a much better mood all of a sudden.

"You, uh, didn't have to put me on the spot like that," Rider Hiccup chuckled nervously.

Gradually, everyone's gaze wandered to Snotlout, waiting to see what he'd do. The Jorgenson boy had yet to respond, or even move. All he was doing was staring blankly at the table in front of him, seemingly wrestling with a decision. Obviously, the ramifications of Trainer Hiccup's dare had hit him hard in a sensitive spot.

And he wasn't the only one. Arachne shrank back uncomfortably, fidgeting in place. Out of all the Monster Riders, she was the only one Snotlout had confessed his innermost insecurities to. Contrary to how he acted, he was well aware that he wasn't nearly as skilled as most of the other Monster Riders, and had to live with that every time he showed up to a training lesson. His monster, Snotsnarl the Tigrex, didn't even listen to him most of the time. The little Philston girl knew that Snotlout's loud boasts were really just a cover to hide behind, not wanting to show weakness to anyone.

Of course, growing up in the Jorgenson clan with Spitelout as a father probably didn't help.

"Hey, maybe this isn't such a good idea…" she began uncertainly.

"Come on, Snot can take it," grinned Rider Astrid, swatting the unresponsive Jorgenson on the shoulder.

"Besides, he can't fail Team Monster Riders now!" added Ruffnut. "It's only the first round!"

"Of course, he could always decide not to and give Team Go-Getters the point," Adhesive offered, his voice mischievously innocent.

"Snotlout! Snotlout!" Tuffnut began to chant, pumping his fist in the air each time. Ruff joined in, followed by Snaketail and Arachne, and even Fishlegs hesitantly added his voice to the impromptu cheerleading squad. That only left Rider Hiccup and Astrid, who glanced awkwardly at one another and stayed silent.

Meanwhile, the Go-Getters sat back and watched, interested to see how things would play out from here. They didn't have long to wait.

"EVERYONE SHUT YOUR FACES!"

Snotlout's outburst stunned everyone into silence. His fists clenched, he looked up to cast an irritated glare at his teammates for making so much noise. It was bad enough that he was being forced to do this, they didn't have to turn it into a huge spectacle. He stood up a little straighter and drew a deep, calming breath through his nose.

As the silence continued to drag on, Rider Hiccup furtively shot his cousin a concerned glance. He'd never seen him like this, so uncomfortable to the point of sudden rage. Maybe Arachne was right, and this was a bad dare for –

"Alright, Hiccup's the better Monster Rider."

For the second time, everyone was shocked into speechlessness, Monster Riders and Go-Getters included. Even some of the watching dragons and monsters seemed surprised. Snotlout scanned the people around him with a stony face, as though his confession was actually paining him inside and he was determined not to show it. But he was a hundred percent serious, and on top of that, he sounded genuine.

"There, I said it," he grumbled. "You happy now?"

Out of them all, no-one was more surprised than Trainer Hiccup. This wasn't what he'd been expecting in the slightest – he was trusting that the alternate Snotlout behaved exactly like the Snotlout from his own dimension. Clearly, he'd been mistaken.

I guess our worlds aren't as similar as I thought, the Pokemon-training Haddock boy realized, feeling a bit numb.

On the other hand, Rider Hiccup looked honest-to-Odin proud (and still a little stunned) as he went over to give Snotlout a congratulatory pat on the shoulder. "Good job, Snotlout! If I'm being perfectly honest, I didn't think you had it in you."

"I don't think any of us did," Snaketail corrected. The other Monster Riders nodded in agreement with her.

"True that," Ninjark replied. He sounded a little awed, like he was only half-convinced he wasn't dreaming.

"This is still Snotlout, right?" asked Snivels, raising a brow.

Suddenly, Snotlout got up and climbed up on top of the table so that he was towering over everybody present. In a voice raised to a shout, he claimed, "But Hiccup won't be the best forever! Snotsnarl and I train our butts off with the rest of the riders every day, and eventually our hard work is gonna pay off! Let me tell you this – there will come a day where the Snotlout climbs up from the bottom to lead the Monster Riders! You'll see! You'll all see!"

He dropped his fork and declared, "Snotlout, outlout!" before jumping down from the table and storming out the doors, shoulders hunched with frustration. With a growl, Snotsnarl followed him outside – as the Tigrex passed, a few people noticed that he almost looked impressed.

After a second, Heather asked, "Does that answer your question, Snivels?"

Cottonmouth255: You honestly thought we'd fail someone this early in the story? Think again. I didn't want Snotlout to seem too out of character, but it's not like he hasn't swallowed his pride before. I think I did a good job explaining why he was able to complete the dare.

Also, after the first couple of chapters, the chapters will start getting shorter. These ones are only so long because of all the introductions, rules, and other necessary information that needs to be conveyed. Once that's all done, we can focus completely on the dares and whatever other random bits we want to throw in for variety.

ReptileGirl497: Hope you guys like the references to some of the previous occurrences in my series. That is, if you understand them, of course. Maybe Cottonmouth might throw in some more of his own?

NEXT CHAPTER: Snotlout dares Snivels