Hiccup pulled Toothless to a stop, gazing down at a small island below them, while the other riders started hovering around him, confused.
"What's what?" Snotlout asked. "We need to get back to the Edge!"
"That's smoke…" Astrid said slowly.
"And those are Dragon Hunter ships!" Fishlegs said.
"Aw man," Ruffnut groaned, "we're not going back to the Edge, are we?"
"Nope," Hiccup said. "Who's ready for a little reconnaissance?"
"With the prisoner!?" Snotlout cried. "Wait, is he even a prisoner? Can I call him that?"
"Doesn't matter," Astrid said as she sent Stormfly into a dive, the rest following quickly after, some grumbling more than others. They pulled up a good distance above the ships and glided overhead, the riders glancing down. There wasn't anyone on deck. They continued onward and landed on a beach a little ways off. Something about there being less chance of being caught than at the closer beach. Everyone dismounted and began making their way into the forest that covered the island.
"Seriously," Tuffnut hissed, "why are we doing this?"
"Because," Hiccup said, distracted, "we need to know what the Hunters are doing here."
Jim looked around, taking in the forest. They could smell the smoke up ahead and were slowly making their way there. The dragons rustled the leaves and broke branches and their riders did too. Jim glanced at the ground, shaking off the sense of some threat hanging over his head. There was a footprint on the ground that looked… familiar, and it didn't match any of the dragons. Stormfly's foot was coming down on it. "Stop!" Jim yelled, rushing forwards. Everyone stopped and looked at him. Stormfly's foot was on the print. "Damnit, damnit, damnit," Jim muttered as he kept moving forward, pushing Stormfly away.
"What?" Snotlout said as Stormfly took a step back with a confused squawk. "What is it?"
"There was a track there. It didn't match on of your dragons," Jim answered. He examined the place where the track had been. He could only make out the general shape, not details outside of big. "Stormfly stepped on it."
The gang moved to gather around. "It probably belongs to a dragon that lives on the island," Hiccup mused.
Jim hummed. He wasn't so sure.
"We should follow it," Astrid suggested. "If Hunters are here, they're probably after this dragon."
"I've got more tracks over here," Fishlegs said, directing them off to the side.
"But that's away from the smoke!?" Snotlout complained.
"If we can beat them to it, we can protect it that much better," Hiccup pointed out as he went to look at the tracks, Jim close at his heels. The two of them each took a knee to examine the track more closely.
"Seems to be two legged," Fishlegs mused, "but it's stride is short."
"It's pretty heavy," Hiccup said. "Look at how deep the tracks are."
They were extremely deep, and wide.
"Yeah, it's strange."
It was fairly round, with three claw like protrusions at the front. It was familiar… Jim's head jerked up, glancing around. Branches overhead and the underbrush alike were broken, leaving a somewhat clear outline of a tall, broad creature with short legs. Jim whipped his gaze to the horizon where the sun was beginning to set. "We have to get out of here," he said. At least now he knew this was his timeline. Probably.
"What?" Hiccup looked at him, frowning.
"Why?" Astrid asked.
"It's not safe."
"But the hunters-"
"Are walking dead men if they don't get off this island, same as us."
"I thought you didn't know anything about dragons," Ruffnut pointed out.
"Or maybe," Tuffnut whispered, "he does know about this dragon specifically."
"It's not a dragon, and it will kill us if we don't leave now!" Jim glanced back at the sunset. "We don't have much time."
A scream pierced the air, cut off halfway through.
Snotlout glanced in the direction of the scream, then back at Jim. "I'm with him. I'm not dying today."
"We can't just leave them!" Hiccup said. "If they're in danger from this thing, we need to warn them."
"Of course, we can leave them!" Snotlout shouted, throwing his hands in the air.
"And it kinda sounds like they know already," Tuffnut said as another scream echoed across the island.
Jim checked the sun again. It was almost down. "Can we please leave?" he begged. "There's nothing we can do for them now."
"No," Hiccup said. "We're finding them."
"Like they would try to warn us," Snotlout grouched.
"There isn't going to be anything left by the time we get there," Jim warned. "You'll be going straight towards it."
Fishlegs patted Jim's shoulder and said, "Welcome to the club."
"We always go towards the strange dangerous things," Astrid finished.
"Please," Jim tried again, "don't do this. It's suicide."
"We're going," Hiccup mounted Toothless who took off towards where the screams had come from. The others groaned but followed. Snotlout grabbed Jim and pulled him up.
The dragons crashed through the trees, not bothering to be quiet or subtle. Jim was horrified by how much sound they were making but refused to make things worse by yelling. They burst into a clearing and came to a stop at the middle, looking around to try and find a hint as to where to look next.
"We need to leave!" Jim hissed again. He looked around. The sun was below the trees, now. Blood drained from his face. "We really can't stay here."
"Please," Snotlout said, rolling his eyes, "you're just being paranoid. There's no one here."
"That's the problem," Jim muttered, pulling himself up into a sitting position. He had decided not to try and move while they were moving so erratically through the trees.
"Take it easy, Jim," Astrid muttered. "Where are they?"
"Not here," Jim snapped. "Now, can we go?"
A branch snapped. The dragons crouched low, wings flaring and snarls pulling at their lips, fires and spines ready. A hulking figure taller than any man was only barely visible through the branches.
"Go," Jim said. "Fly. Get us in the air, now!"
The figure started running, braking branches like they were made of paper.
"Toothless, fire!"
A purple bolt flew through the air. The figure slid left, dodging. The bolt struck a tree behind him and flared, leaving only a burn mark and flying bark.
"Get off the ground!" Jim yelled again. This time they listened. All the riders directed their dragons into the sky. Wings flaring and beating down to lift them up.
Too slow. The figure burst from the trees and crossed the clearing in only a moment, reaching out and grabbing Stormfly's leg.
Jim cursed under his breath as he caught sight of Bular grinning at his captured prey. The Gumm-Gumm troll yanked down and slammed the dragon into the ground, knocking Astrid from her perch. Jim cursed out loud this time before calling up his helmet and dropping down onto Bular's shoulders. He summoned his knives and sunk them into his stone flesh before launching off as Bular roared and turned to face him.
"Trollhunter," Bular snarled. "I could have sworn you were taller. Or maybe the great Deya the Deliverer has passed on the title to a runt. What tribe are you?"
Jim remained silent, switching to his sword as he and Bular began circling each other. Jim had to keep Bular's attention on him as Astrid got back into the air. A quick glance told Jim Astrid was limping over to Stormfly, who hadn't gotten up yet.
Bular snorted and charged forward. Jim moved to match him, blow for blow. Jim dodged, blocked, and parried, ducking and weaving. Jim ducked under Bular's guard and slashed. The wound was small and shallow, but it was enough to infuriate the large troll.
A purple blast struck Bular from above, knocking him off balance, but other than that, it only distracted him slightly. Jim moved in again. Bular parried this time, expecting it.
They kept dancing around each other. When they disengaged for a second, Jim checked on Astrid and Stormfly. Astrid had her dragon up on her feet and was getting ready to take off. Just a few more seconds. Then he had to figure out how to get out of here. He could kill Bular again. Probably. But what would that mean. Time travel was touchy and confusing, as shown by the many different theories that Hollywood movies liked to trot out and that Jim didn't understand.
Honestly, he should probably just avoid the trouble and try to not kill him. Hopefully everything would turn out alright.
They engaged again. Once more ducking and weaving, slashing and grabbing nothing but air. Jim knew better than to let Bular get his hands on him and had the experience to keep it from happening, too. It was odd, for Jim. He had more experience than the first time he'd come across Bular, but Bular had less. And he was still angry about the whole Killahead Bridge mess.
A brown blur pushed between them and latched onto Bular's arm. Meatlug gnawed happily on the rocky limb.
"Release me, fire beast!" Bular shouted, shaking his arm like a kid that had discovered some kind of disgusting insect on it. Jim found himself snickering at the thought. Fishlegs, who was still on Meatlug until then, went flying, and, eventually, the force became too much for Meatlug, and she was launched through the air.
"Meatlug!" Fishlegs cried out, quickly making his way over to her after adjusting his helmet back into place.
"You laugh at me, runt?" Bular said as he noticed Jim laughing quietly to himself. Jim stopped immediately and prepared himself for another round. "I will tear you limb from limb! I will destroy that flimsy piece of metal that gives you your title and your armor! I will hunt down every Trollhunter that comes after you and kill them, too!"
Jim almost froze up for a moment as he realized Bular didn't know about the bridge yet. He didn't know they needed the Amulet to open it again. Probably didn't know they could open it again. Jim barely got out of the way in time, now buying time for Fishlegs and Meatlug.
A thick green smoke filled the air around them, igniting a second later, blasting them both. Jim groaned as he picked himself up. That had packed quite the punch. Bular stood opposite him, breathing heavily. Jim was heaving himself at this point. He wouldn't be able to hold this up for much longer.
Meatlug was in the air. The riders were circling overhead. Jim needed to get out of here.
Jim waited for Bular to start charging him, then ran forward. He ducked under Bular's arm and kept going. A series of spikes and a purple bolt flew over Jim's head and struck Bular. Jim kept going, aiming for the trees. He quickly climbed one while Bular was still roaring in outrage. He pulled himself onto on branch and launched himself into the air.
He really should have checked if anyone was close enough to catch him first. Claws wrapped around his arms and pulled him higher as the riders quickly fled.
"And that," Jim said, dismissing his helmet, "was why I wanted to get off that island."
"Those tracks were that thing!" Snotlout shouted.
"Yes," Jim said, "and that thing eats people. He probably ate any dragons that were on that island a long time ago and definitely ate the hunters." Jim glanced, checking to see who was carrying him. up to see the bottom of Toothless's scaly head. The dragon barely even seemed to notice him.
"So, stay off the island," Astrid summed up.
Jim nodded. "At all costs," he finished. He paused. "Could we, uh, not carry me like this?"
"Oh, I don't see the problem," Hiccup said. "So, what's your armor made of again? 'Cause I'm pretty sure metal doesn't appear out of nowhere and disappear just as fast."
Jim blinked. "That's what you're going to- Whatever. Right. Near as I can tell, it's made out of Daylight. It's magic."
"Really," Hiccup said dryly, "and what, exactly, was that on the island?"
Jim sighed. "I don't have much choice on this do I?"
"Nope," all the riders answered in unison.
"Alright, then. That was Bular. He is a troll. More specifically, he's a Gumm-Gumm. The Gumm-Gumms recently lost a war and were banished to the Darklands. He is the only one left on earth and is a little bitter. Obviously. Not sure what he's doing on the island or why he's there, but if you stay away from it you should be fine."
"Should be fine?" Astrid asked.
Jim just shrugged.
"I don't know if you were watching the same fight we were, but we didn't exactly do much to him," Tuffnut pointed out.
"Yeah," Ruffnut said. "It was like he was invincible."
"I'm not so sure," Fishlegs said. "I mean, yeah, we were pretty useless, but Meatlug actually seemed to annoy and maybe even concern him. He was made of rock, right?"
"Yeah," Jim answered.
"Maybe boulder class dragons would be useful."
"I like the way you think, Fishlegs," Hiccup said.
"Please don't do anything stupid. Just leave him alone and stay off the island," Jim said.
"Is that everything?" Astrid asked.
"Everything that's relevant," Jim answered, shrugging.
A quick nod to Hiccup had him directing Toothless to put Jim on Stormfly's back behind Astrid.
"Your positive that's everything you know about him?" Snotlout asked.
"Yes, Snotlout," Jim said, turning to face the Viking. "There's nothing else to say about him."
"We're going to have to warn the others," Hiccup said. "We can't have people accidentally stumbling across Bular and getting into trouble."
"Agreed," Astrid said.
"Great," Jim said. "Your friends and allies are safe, now." Now, all he had to do was figure out how to get home.
"Well, they're not safe until we write up the Terror mail and send them out."
Terror mail? "You know what? I'm not going to ask."
A ding came from the Amulet. When Jim glanced down, he saw purple streams of light flowing from the Amulet and circling around him, much like when he had first activated the Amulet. Stormfly squawked when she caught sight of the strange light. "What is that?" Astrid asked concerned.
"I don't know," Jim answered. "It's never done this before."
"Wait, you don't know what that thing can do!?" Snotlout yelled at him.
"No, I don't," Jim snapped. "No one knows everything it can do. No one's even come close to scratching the surface."
Stormfly was getting more and more agitated as the lights grew and moved faster. Now it was reminding Jim of the massive portal Claire had made to get them out of the closed off gyre station when Gunmar invaded. She began bucking as Astrid tried to get her back under control and calm her down.
"Hey! Easy girl! It's alright!" she said desperately running a soothing hand behind her spines.
Jim struggled to hang on and yelped as he fell from the saddle.
"Jim!" the others yelled, diving after him. But it was too late, or, rather, it wasn't going to matter. Jim's vision was obscured by the purple lights as they cocooned around his body, wrapping him in a warm welcoming light. Jim could see nothing and feel nothing. When the light faded, Jim found himself looking up at the familiar star-studded ceiling of the Hero's Forge laying on his back.
Jim blinked. That was it? He was just… home? His armor faded, and the Amulet fell off his chest and rolled across the ground with a small clink as Jim sat up and glanced around. Everything looked the way it should, but how could he be sure?
"Master Jim!" Jim turned to see Blinky and Aaarrrgghh entering the Forge. "Weren't you going to be testing out the new stone? I thought I told you not to wait for us."
Jim looked down at the innocently glowing Amulet and calmly picked it up. He flipped it over and removed the stone. "I didn't. I don't think I'm going to be using that one again."
"Why?" Aaarrrgghh asked.
Jim paused, thinking. "Well, let's find somewhere to sit. It's going to take me a little while to explain."