Astrid's POV
"Okay, a wild Monstrous Nightmare," said Astrid as said dragon slowly advanced on her. He breathed fire, but she quickly dodged. He breathed it again, but she dodged it again. After about five more tries, he gave up and sauntered away.
"Well, he knows what's good for him," said Astrid, turning away as the dragon moved in the opposite direction. She looked around and dove for cover when she heard a rustle in the bushes. Looking, she saw it was only Ruffnut and Tuffnut.
"What are you doing?" whispered Astrid.
"Shhh," said Tuffnut. "We're hiding."
"In plain sight?" asked Astrid.
"It's very complicated," said Ruffnut.
Astrid rolled her eyes, but then stopped suddenly when she saw the light of Fishleg's torch.
She ran in the other direction and jumped behind a rock. She peaked out from behind it, seeing Fishlegs find Ruffnut and Tuffnut.
"Out and out," said Fishlegs.
"Hey no fair!" said Tuffnut. "You weren't supposed to see us!"
"Yeah, this game stinks," said Ruffnut.
Fishlegs turned and walked away, Meatlung, Ruffnut, Tuffnut, and their Zippleback following. As soon as they were a safe distance away, Astrid got up from her hiding spot and moved over to check on Stormfly again.
Seeing her dragon was in the same location she left her in, Astrid nodded and turned around. She began walking backwards slowly, keeping her eyes set on her surroundings. Then she bumped into someone else.
Whoever she bumped into screamed. Turning around, she saw it was Snotlout. She quickly slapped a hand over his mouth to keep him quiet, but he continued mumbling incoherently.
"Ahdhjkehadnmsbnei," he said.
"What?" whispered Astrid.
"I sahid met yoursui mand awmay om miy outh," he repeated.
"What!?" asked Astrid as loud as she dared.
Snotlout reached up, grabbed her hand, and pulled it away from him. "I said," he repeated, "get your hand away from my mouth!"
"Oh," said Astrid. "Fine."
She turned back when she saw the light of Fishlegs' torch. She and Snotlout ducked into hiding, but not before Fishlegs saw them.
"Out and out!" said Fishlegs.
Astrid stood up with him anyways and approached Fishlegs. Snotlout and her both called for their dragons, who came to them instantly.
"The last one is, again, Hiccup," said Fishlegs. "We can never tag him out."
Astrid nodded. "Well, he does have a Night Fury," she said. She cupped her hands around her mouth and shouted, "Hiccup! You win! Time for the next round!" She was smiling, until she didn't receive any reply. "Hiccup!?" she called out. "Toothless!?" Now she was beginning to panic. Why wasn't he answering?
"Hiccup!" shouted Snotlout.
"Hiccup! Toothless!" called Fishlegs. "Where are you?"
"Tuffnut!" shouted Tuffnut.
"You weirdo, you're Tuffnut," said Ruffnut.
"I am?" said Tuffnut. "Wow."
"HICCUP!" called Astrid. "Hic-cup!"
"Why isn't he responding?" asked Fishlegs. "At least Toothless would respond, right?"
"Toothless!" shouted Astrid. If something happened where Hiccup couldn't hear her, she knew Toothless could. But they still didn't get anything.
"Let's head South, where Hiccup and Toothless started," Astrid suggested.
"Right," said Snotlout. They all mounted their dragons and steered them towards the South end of dragon island.
Then Astrid saw something that made her heart skip a beat.
Toothless was laying on the sand, unconscious. Beside him was Hiccup's shield-but no sign of Hiccup.
"Toothless!" shouted Astrid as Stormfly landed. As soon as it was safe enough, she jumped off her dragon and ran over to the Night Fury.
"Toothless?" she asked.
The other dragons landed behind her an instant later. They dismounted and ran over to where Astrid was kneeling.
"He's unconscious," said Astrid, but she really didn't have to say it before they knew. "Tuff, get a water bucket from the saddlebag and fill it with water. Bring it back over her-"
"And dump it on Toothless, I know," said Tuffnut, running back over to their dragon. In a few moments, he returned with a small bucket filled with seawater. He held it over Toothless' head, and dumped it out over said dragon.
Instantly, Toothless was awake. Without skipping a beat, he leaped onto Astrid and snarled, not fully recognizing who she was.
"Toothless!" shouted Astrid. "It's me! Astrid!"
Instantly, Toothless calmed down and got off her. He looked at his surroundings, and then roared-loudly, into the air. So loud, that the others had to cover their ears. And even then it was still beating up against their eardrums.
When Toothless stopped, the youths lowered their hands.
"Whoa," said Tuffnut.
"I've never seen Toothless-do that before," said Astrid.
"I've never seen any dragon do that before," said Fishlegs. Toothless started running around them as if they weren't even there, sniffing random places on the ground, snarling every now and then.
"Toothless, where's Hiccup?" asked Astrid.
Toothless' ears perked up and his eyes widened. He turned his head, grunting at his saddlebag. Getting the hint, Astrid opened it and saw, amongst other things, a small piece of parchment, rolled into a small scroll.
She took it out, not bothering to close the saddle bag, unrolled it, and read it out loud to the group.
"'I have your heir and your leader. If you want to see him again, come to Berserk. I might be interested on a trade. The only question is, are you?'" she said, her voice wavering. "'Signed, Chief of the Berserkers, Dagur the Deranged. You have twelve hours before I change my mind.'"
"Dagur has Hiccup!" shouted Fishlegs.
Astrid nodded solemnly. Out of all the people in the world-Dagur? Seriously? Alvin the Treacherous might have been better, seeing as how Hiccup can easily outsmart him.
"I say we get over there, and blow those Berserkers right off the map!" shouted Snotlout, mounting Hookfang. Hookfang lit on fire and blasted some into the sky to emphasize the point.
"No," said Astrid. "There's only ten of us. Dagur has an entire armada."
"What do we do?" asked Tuffnut.
"Hiccup would know what to do," said Fishlegs. "He always does."
Astrid couldn't help but nod. She recalled all the times they had come to a seemingly impossible situation, and Hiccup had gotten them out. Now it was time for them to return the favor...
...and she knew they were failing.
What would Hiccup do...what would Hiccup do...what would Hiccup do? she asked herself over and over and over again.
"He would come up with a fiendishly clever plan, like he always does," said Fishlegs.
Oops. Astrid mentally smacked herself in the face. Had she spoken out loud?
"We're not clever like he is," said Fishlegs. "What can we do? What is there to do?"
"We have to go save him," said Astrid. "Dagur wrote clearly that he was only waiting twelve hours before-" she shook her head to get that thought of of her head. What happened if they didn't get there in twelve hours?
"We should go back to Berk, gather a fleet, and bring them back here!" shouted Snotlout.
"You know that would never work," said Astrid. "Stoick and many others are on another island, meeting with some other chiefs. We're on our own here. We can't go back to Berk and gather people, there's not enough time. We have to go alone. For Hiccup."
"You're right!" shouted Snotlout, which surprised everyone. "We have to go save him!"
"You care about him?" asked Astrid in an "I-told-you-so" type voice.
"No!" shouted Snotlout, offended. "I don't care about him! I'm his cousin. I have to help him."
Astrid rolled her eyes, remembering when Hiccup and Toothless defeated the Red Death, Snotlout was the one, along with Astrid, who didn't want to leave for long periods of time. Also when Hiccup was struck by lightning, he was also terrified.
"Come on, then!" shouted Astrid. She turned towards the terrified Night Fury and gingerly got on his back just in case Toothless still hadn't fully recovered consciousness and thought her to be an enemy. But Toothless let her get on without so much as a problem, and then got ready to soar.
"Let's go, Toothless," said Astrid. "We've got a friend to save!"
