Dudes, one word: Vacation! My last test ended this morning, (it was biology, woohoo!) and if the results are good, I will try to update on the day I get them. If they are bad it might take a very long time until the next update. I'm very sure my mom will take my computer for a few weeks or even months if they are. I'll let you know how it went.

Everything that isn't in Old Norse will be typed in oblique, okay.

And to the girl or guy who called him-/herself SUPER CRAZY: Please don't kill me with all your excitement! Here is the next chapter.

I do not own anything; except for the story itself –and our newcomer. He is mine so hands off!

Chapter 7: The Shadow of Chaos

Danny's p.o.v.

*BOOM!*

"Toothless..."I groaned, starting to cover my head with my blanket, until I noticed it was pitch black outside. 'That's weird; he never wakes Hiccup up this early.' I thought.

I sat up and looked at Hiccup's bed. He was still out like a light.

*BOOM, BOOM, BOOM!*

Toothless started jumping more urgently than before, and there was a hint of fear in his roars. Hiccup only stirred but kept breathing slowly and calmly. I jumped out of my hammock, receiving an indignant protest from Arrow. I picked him up again and petted his head.

"Sorry boy, but something is wrong outside."

The little creature tilted his head and concentrated for a second, and then he stiffened, his eyes wide open and his wings pulled closely to his body. He seemed to agree.

I hopped outside, still trying to get my other boot on. Arrow was clinging to my shoulder, digging his nails into it, so he wouldn't get thrown off. Toothless stood next to me in a matter of seconds and started jumping around in panic.

"Toothless, what is going on?" He gave a loud panicked yelp and pointed with his nose up into the air and seemed to be following something with his eyes. I looked up and tried to follow his gaze.

I saw it almost immediately. It was mostly a dark color, but the fuzzy white on its belly and the patterns on its wings gave its location away. It was defiantly a dragon, but not one that I had ever seen. From here, I could see it had a rather short neck,(like Toothless)but a much longer, alligator-like head. I could also see it had an irregular row of spines on his back, no front legs and a large claw on each wing.

But a dragon shouldn't be a reason for Toothless to worry; the vikings from this tribe were friends with dragons! But then I noticed this dragon was circling the island, like a giant hawk looking for a prey. Crap! If it wasn't peaceful, I couldn't go up there and fight it. That would get everyone's attention. And if they noticed I was gone, I would be in deep trouble.

"This can't be good. Better wake Hiccup up," I told the still shaking Toothless

I walked back inside and gently started shaking Hiccup by his shoulders and whispering, "Psst, Hiccup wake up, Toothless is worried. A strange dragon is circling around outside."

He just pushed my hand away in his sleep and rolled over. Toothless, who had walked inside to see where his human was, grunted and took a deep breath to roar him awake. I caught him just in time and clamped his mouth shut, almost freaking him out.

"Don't, if you do that it will certainly get that strange dragon's attention. And then he might attack."

Realizing I was right, he let out his breath and looked at me as if he wanted to say: 'Then what are you gonna do?' I grinned and activated one of my powers (causing Toothless to flinch for a second) and showed him that I had made. He recognized the small object and grinned back.

Hiccup's p.o.v.

"AA-hmpf!" I sat up and let out a yell, but a hand muffled it before it could leave my lips. Cold! Icy cold and wet! I hit away the hand and quickly grabbed underneath the back of my shirt to pull out...a tiny cube of ice? What in Thors name...? How did that get there?

"Hiccup!" I looked up and saw Danny and Toothless (who was softly chuckling in his own dragon way) standing next to my bed. Both pairs of eyes seemed paler, because of the moonlight they reflected.

"I think something is wrong." Danny continued in a half whisper. "There is an unknown dragon flying around outside, looking as if he is trying to find out where to attack first."

"What?" I asked, a little sleepy.

Then I realized what Danny just said. I could only think of one dragon who would attack us. 'Chaos' was back.

"Oh no!"

I jumped out of bed and ran outside without even putting on my boot. Toothless was already back outside, looking up tensely. I looked up too, but I couldn't see a thing.

I almost jumped at the sound of Danny's voice next to me.

"You see? It's right...there!" Danny pointed up towards the same place as Toothless was looking.

I squinted to try and see what he was pointing at.

"I can't see it. But you can!"

Danny stiffened out and softly cursed in his own language, as if he had said too much. But that wasn't what I was focusing on right now. If Danny could see it, we might be able to find out what kind of dragon 'Chaos' was.

"What type of dragon is it?" I asked.

Danny sighed, relieved about the topic change, and said, "I have no idea. It's a kind of dragon I have never seen before."

Now it was my turn to sigh in relief; at least it wasn't one of the dragons that lived around Berk. If it was, Danny would have been able to recognize it.

I ran back inside and grabbed underneath my bed. There I kept my own copy of the Dragon Manual in which I could make notes myself. I ran back to Danny and gave him the book. "Can you find out which dragon it is?" He took the book from me and started flipping the pages. He quickly tuned the pages and sometimes stopped to compare the images in the book with the real creature in the air, only to shake his head and starting to turn the page again. Eventually he stopped and nodded.

"This is it," he declared.

It was a little too dark for me to see the page clearly, so I asked, "What is it?"

He looked at the top of the page and groaned in frustration. "You really got to teach me how to read your writings. Wake up your dad and warn him, I'm going to wake up as many people as I can." And with that, he ran off.

"Toothless, go with him to help wake everyone up." I told my friend. He nodded, casted one last glance upward and went after Danny.

I ran back inside and lit a candle, so I could see what dragon we were dealing with. I paled when I saw the creature on the the page, it was a huge dragon. Long, sharp spikes started in a crown around his head and cheeks, ran down the back of his neck all the way to the tip of its tail. Eyes stood far to the front of its elongated head, near its sharp teeth. And unlike most dragons, it even had two rows of thorns on the sides of its belly and tail.

I practically dropped the book where I was standing and ran to my dad's room and yelled, "Dad, wake up! I never thought I would say this but: Grab your hammer, we're under attack!"

(Oh, look, another linebreak!)

With Endeavour buckled to my waist, and Skyscraper under my arm I ran around, looking for Danny. He had already managed to wake most of the village. Those who were awake were waking up more people or getting their things ready, trying to attract as little attention as possible. Astrid came running next to me.

"Hiccup, what's going on? Danny started waking everyone up saying there is a dragon getting ready to attack, but what does he-?"

"Astrid, Chaos is back! But there is more, Danny identified it as a Skrill!" I interrupted

Astrid paled. Skrills are (except for Night Furys) the only other Strike-class dragons, and are closely related to Night Furys. They both shared great speed and maneuverability, extreme intelligence and lethality.

"Are you sure?" Astrid asked, hoping I wasn't. "Skrills shoot white bursts of fire, not pale blue ones."

"Well, can you think of any dragon with blue fire?" I asked her.

She thought about that for a second and replied, "Night Furys. But they shoot small, explosive fireballs, not flows like this one."

Danny and Toothless came into view. Danny had just finished explaining the situation to a very confused viking and started running to the next house. Arrow was nowhere to be seen, so I guessed Danny sent him to wake up more people.

"Danny!" I called out. He slowed down a little so we could catch up with them. "Here, I brought Skyscraper."

"Thanks." He said, taking the sword and attaching it to his belt.

"So," Astrid stated "You really think Chaos is a Skrill?"

"Who is a what?" He reacted confused.

"Chaos is the nickname we gave to this dragon; he regularly attacks the islands without any obvious reason. A Skrill is the species of dragon you pointed out to me in the book."

"Oh. Yes, I'm sure" He just answered, knocking on the next door.

"What is all this racket about?" A rather cranky viking asked, coming outside with a lit torch.

I panicked; that one small light could alarm the Skrill that we were up and active. Danny realized this too. He made a high, panicked noise in his throat and (to Astrid's astonishment) extinguished the fire with his two bare hands. It was too late however. A loud roar filled the air, followed by a sound like a Night Fury diving, only lower. (If you imagine the rumbling sound of a small aircraft flying over, you are very close.)

*CRASH!* *BOOM! *A burst of blue fire set a house ablaze. Luckily, everyone was outside already.

"IT STARTED!" Danny yelled at the top if his lungs, (which was really loud) and ran off to wherever he could help.

Dad flew over on his Thunderdrum Thornado and instructed, "Warriors, take all the nets and bolas you can find, and come with me! Astrid, go look for the other teens and get Hiccup's Mangler. Try to get a clear shot! Hiccup, you are our best flyer, you are coming with us!"

Astrid ran off to gather the teens, while I got on Toothless's back and took off. We flew up high above the village, to get a better view of what was going on. In the little time that had passed after the first attack, two other houses had been set on fire! The low rumble sounded again and another house lit up in blue flames. I turned just in time to see the Skrill's silhouette fly over it.

"There!" I yelled going after it, keeping an eye on its murky white belly. The others quickly followed. I managed to follow it for a while. I might not be able to throw a net or bola, but I could lead the others to it. We were easily keeping up with it, until it suddenly disappeared. "What the...?" I cried out.

"Hiccup, where is it?" Dad asked.

"I think I lost it!" I yelled back.

"What do you mean you lost it?"

Before I could answer there was another roar and I saw something bright coming from behind us.

"Look out!" I yelled, diving down in the nick of time. A blast of blue fire just missed us, but hit another dragon on the wing. Luckily, neither dragon nor rider got hurt too badly when they crashed into the ground. Seeing the Skrill again I rushed after it.

The Skrill kept toying with us. He let us follow him for a while, disappeared again and attacked. It was frustrating. I looked down as a high whistle was sounded. Danny was running underneath us and waving his arms around wildly to get our attention. He had something hanging over his shoulders.

I turned and started flying lower above him. He pointed to the edge of the cliff where the other teens were setting up the Mangler. But he wasn't running straight at them. Understanding what he wanted, (wow, this kid had some guts) I sped up. As Danny got closer to the edge, we dived down to the side of the cliff. He jumped and landed, after a short drop, behind me on Toothless's back. Toothless wobbled for a second because of the sudden increase in weight, but quickly regained his balance. Seeing this, the other teens started cheering. Toothless quickly gained height again.

"Why do you want to come?" I asked, looking back.

"I think I can help." Danny answered. "I can see where the dragon goes and I also have a pretty good idea why he is so aggressive, but I need to see him up close to be sure." I nodded.

"So you can tell me where it is when it disappears?"

"It doesn't disappear. It waits until you're close enough, then it turns around quickly, and flies around you in the opposite direction so it can attack you from behind. A very effective trick –if you lose sight of it. But, there is also a technique that can be used against it."

"So where is it now?" I asked, looking around.

Danny looked around too and suddenly yelled, "There!" while pointing to the right.

I got a glimpse of a white belly, and once again started the chase. The other had started their own search, while I had been talking to Danny, so this time we were the only ones following it. But as we got closer it disappeared once again. Damn!

"Now, up, quickly!" Danny yelled. Toothless started beating his wings furiously to gain height. We shot up a few meters. "Level out! Stay as quiet as possible." Toothless spread his wings and started floating around, just underneath the clouds. I looked down and around us. Somewhere underneath and behind us, the Skrill was flying around, its head turning left and right –trying to find us.

"Steady," Danny whispered and put his feet on Toothless' back, standing up. He grabbed one of the ropes that had been dangling around his shoulders, and now I recognized what they were; they were bolas. Looking at his target, Danny started swinging it around faster and faster. Toothless flinched and started whining –probably remembering the sound from the day I had caught him. I gently patted his head "Don't worry, everything will be fine."

Danny threw his bola; it whizzed through the air...and hit its target! The Skrill let out a terrified screech and started falling, one of his wings still flapping around wildly. If this went on like that he might break his wing or rip the membrane. Realizing this too, Danny cursed in his own language, and grabbed the next bola. He threw it and tied up the dragon's other wing. It also turned the Skrill's body a little, so that it fell on his left side. As Danny sat down we dived after it.

He sighed in relief and mumbled, "Luckily he didn't land on his right side."

"Why?" I asked. "You'll see when we get down." Danny looked really tense and serious; it was strange, and almost a little scary to see him like that.

Even before Toothless' paws touched the ground, Danny had jumped off his back, (almost injuring himself, but catching himself by rolling -causing him to lose the last bola- and jumping up again) and ran straight to the crashed dragon. I waited until Toothless slowed down enough, jumped off and ran towards Danny, who was kneeling next to the dragons head. I was surprised our hair stayed normal; according to the dragon manual coming to close to a Skrill makes your hair stand on end.

He was small for a Skrill, only slightly larger than Toothless, so I guessed he was in his early or middle teens. Also his coloring was a little strange. Skrills normally have slight shades of purple on the light grey scales. The scales on the back of this dragon and also those on the back of his wings were carbon black. His belly and the drawings on the inside of his wings were murky white.

Danny gently lifted the dragon's eyelid. "He's unconscious. The fall knocked him out," He said.

Note to self, write down: A Skrill's electric activity stops if it is unconscious. So that means they have control over the electricity in their body. This new information might lead to a whole new list of possibilities! But that couldn't be right… A dead Skrill could still give off electricity for hours.

Danny ran to the Skrill's shoulder, close to his neck, with his back towards me. "How long has he been attacking villages?" He asked with a quivering voice. I walked closer to see why he was so upset.

"Wha-?" I started but I stopped as he turned towards me, his eyes almost literally as cold as ice.

"How long has he been flying with that thing in his neck?" He practically yelled, furiously, gesturing to something sticking out of the dragon's trapezius. (The muscle where the neck proceeded into the shoulders)

I gasped as I came closer. It was the disconnected point of a spear of some sort sticking into its flesh. The poor dragon had tried to pull it out but only managed to make the wound worse. With every wrong movement it had ripped the healed skin and muscles back open, constantly hurting him.

"Two months." I quickly answered, kneeling down too to see what I could do to help.

Danny gently toughed the loose scales around the wound, some of which some were slightly cutting into the soft flesh they were supposed to protect.

"The wound is badly infected," Danny mumbled, observing the large wound. "This is a tough guy but we need to help him or else he will die." He turned back to me, his eyes still cold. "I need you to get back to the village and get me a cloth and some clean water. I'll try to get this out."

I nodded and ran back to Toothless who was looking on with horror in his wide eyes. "Come on buddy, we got to go back and get Danny some stuff to help." Toothless turned around and took off so fast I almost fell off. He was flapping his wings furiously, trying to go faster. Meanwhile my head was racing too. That's why he attacked us; a wounded animal is a dangerous one. Plus, a spear was a human weapon, so considering the dragon's age, he learned very young to show hatred towards humans.

When I shot Toothless, I had been able to release him quickly, to prove I didn't want to be his enemy and wanted to help. But this dragon had been all alone, wounded and without any help. Maybe it was already too late to make him change his mind about humans.

Danny's p.o.v.

I looked as Toothless and Hiccup took off. 'I hope they hurry,' I thought. I heard a grunt behind me and saw the Skrill's eyes flutter open weakly. I better do this quickly. I grabbed the base of the spear, turned it intangible and pulled it out of the wound. As I got a better look at the point I paled. It wasn't a spear, it was a harpoon!

Almost a year ago, Sam convinced Tucker and me to work with her… on a lecture about whaling. As soon as we had all the information we needed, we all felt a little sick. Even Tucker swore he would never sink his teeth into whale meat. To capture the whales, they used specialized harpoons. When they pierced the skin they were smooth, but if you tried to pull them out four large barbs unfolded and cause massive damage. If the poor animal wasn't instantly killed, those would prevent it from escaping. A whale would fight for hours, only to die a slow and painful death.

I looked into the dragon's eyes as I heard a low growl. He was looking straight back at me. His eyes were a soft teal. He tried to move a little but the ropes easily prevented him to. He gave up quickly and his head dropped, too tired to move from all the fighting. And the wound and impact from the fall were still taking their toll too. So he just fell asleep again.

I sat there for a few minutes, one hand on the wound to keep it from bleeding too much and gently stroking his neck with the other. A few minutes later I heard a frantic flapping as Hiccup and Toothless returned. Toothless landed and ran until he was next to us, Hiccup jumped of and handed me the bucket and cloth. As I put the cloth into the water I noticed it was warm, Hiccup probably snatched it from someone's stove.

"Is he going to be okay?" Hiccup asked as I wrung some of the water out of the cloth.

"I don't know." I admitted "The wound might be worse on the inside than it looks on the outside." Saying that last part I picked up the harpoon point and gave it to Hiccup. As he took it and turned a little grey as I started to clean the wound.

"What is that?" Hiccup asked, his voice hoarse with shock.

"That is what we call a harpoon in my language. Some people use it to hunt for big sea animals." I didn't know what 'whale' was in Norse and since Hiccup didn't know what a harpoon was, I decided he could borrow the English word.

"But vikings don't make these." Hiccup mumbled "None of the vikings in the Archipelago do." "Archipelago?" I wondered. Hiccup quickly drew what looked like a map in the sand and started explaining "The Archipelago is a collection of Islands where the four biggest viking tribes are situated. You've got us, the Hairy Hooligans, in the west. Then there are also the Meatheads in the east, the Bog-Burglars in the south and the Hysterics in the north. And in between there are also smaller groups like the Outcasts and Lava-Louts. Those are pretty mean but they aren't smart enough to make weapons like these."

"Then, if it wasn't the vikings, who would do something like this?"

Hiccup started studying the harpoon again and I went back to cleaning the Skrill's wound.

"Romerne!" Hiccup suddenly gasped.

I looked up and Hiccup showed me a small eagle together with the letters S.P.Q.R engraved into the base of the harpoon. 'Aha, Romerne equals Romans.' I thought.

I frowned; I never really liked the Romans with all their gory wars and coliseums. And of course I had some first-hand experience –twice. First, when Vlad threw Sam, Tuck, and me to the lions, and then when I was forced into the chariot races. And besides, if Sam would have to choose between 'civilized Romans, who destroyed nature to build cities, and in their indifference eradicated a few animals' and 'barbaric vikings who (though not vegetarian) lived in harmony with nature,' there would be no competition.

Then I noticed that people had begun to show up and were talking, pointing, and looking in awe. I just concentrated and started removing the loose, but sharp scales that were cutting into the wound.

"Hiccup!" I turned around to see Stoick , who had come running to see if his son was okay. "Hiccup, are you alright?"

"Yes dad, I'm alright. But there are some other things we have to worry about."

Stoick's eyes landed on the Skrill. His eyes widened.

"You caught it?" He asked, looking bewildered.

Hiccup shook his head and the proud shine in Stoick's eyes dulled a little.

"No dad, Danny is the one who caught it." He turned to me with wide eyes.

"You did?" He asked.

I smiled and shook my head. "Don't give me all the honor. I couldn't have done it without Hiccup's amazing skills."

Stoick's smile widened again and he ruffled his son's hair. I turned around and continued to pull out the last few loose scales.

"Well done Hiccup, that's my boy! Well done!" I felt a heavy hand on my shoulders and looked around to see Stoick's other hand on Hiccup's shoulder. "Both of you." he added.

Hiccup jumped in "Dad, we might have something else to worry about." He held up the harpoon and there were a few gasps around us. Stoick took it and started move the barbs, realizing what they were for "He had this in his shoulder." Hiccup explained. "Danny calls it a harpoon. The Romans made it." He pointed at the eagle to prove his point.

Stoick took a better look and nodded, mumbling, "They're getting closer."

I removed the last painful scale and I started wiping away the fresh blood. "Romans are trouble. Believe me, I should know." I said "But right now I would rather concentrate on this guy here. If we don't do anything he'll die." Stoick looked at the sleeping wounded dragon and frowned.

"Dad, it isn't his fault, a wounded and scared animal is more likely to attack than a healthy one. And I think the Romans did something to him to make him hate humans." Hiccup said, seeing his father's doubt. Stoick thought some more and then nodded.

"Okay, put the Skrill in the old Dragon Training ring! It has the strongest cages and there we can keep an eye on him until he is healed and reeducated!" A few vikings came running with a large platform on wheels that caused Toothless to panic for a second. Hiccup quickly started whispering calming words to him and tried using the 'frill trick' as he called it –which I had taught to him. The vikings tried to half roll, half lift the Skrill onto the platform.

"Hey, Danny!" one of them called. "A little help here?"

"Coming!" I yelled back. "Watch out for the wound on his right side!" I quickly added, as I helped lifting the shoulders. When we succeeded in putting the creature onto the wooden construction, I walked to his head to secure it. I saw Hiccup and his father talking. I discreetly concentrated my increased hearing on their conversation.

"-but I really believe that with the right treatment and enough patience we might be able to do this." Hiccup finished his sentence. Stoick sighed and looked at his son.

"You do realize that, if this doesn't work out, I'll have to take steps." Now Hiccup sighed and covered his eyes with his hands.

"I know." He whispered with a lump in his throat.

I tensed up, knowing what they were talking about. I heard a soft rumble next to me and looked up to see the dragon's eye fluttering open slightly. His eyes were unfocused and misty, but I knew he was looking in my direction.

"I'm not going to let that happen." I whispered to him in English. Hearing the sound, his eyes focused a little on me, trying to fight his sleep. "I promise." I gently assured him, stroking where his eyebrows should be and causing the already exhausted dragon to fell asleep once more.

Hiccup's p.o.v.

When Danny came back with the others, he was in a very bad, very absent mood. When I asked what was wrong, he just mumbled something about chains and hating small spaces. It turned out they had tied the Skrill up in the Monstrous Nightmare's old cage, so that he couldn't attack anyone if they opened it to feed him or take care of his wounds. They also put a bucket of water next to the entrance to throw over his head so he couldn't breathe fire. I understood Danny's anger; How in Wodan's name were we going to get this dragon to trust us if we locked him up? But even I couldn't think of another way to prevent him from hurting anyone.

A few hours later, as the sun was rising higher into the air, we were busy rebuilding the burned and damaged houses. I was helping with lighter repairing work, while Danny (as always) was helping to hoist beams and heavier materials up. I put down another basket and looked at Danny who was helping a few vikings and a Gronkel pull a beam into place with a rope. Arrow sat on his shoulder again, cheering him on.

Astrid put her basked down next to mine. "Wow, he looks a little down." She commented. I just sighed. "You got to admit, he might not have your thoughtfulness or skills with dragons but he is bold and good with battle techniques."

"Are you changing your mind about being my girlfriend?" I asked. It was meant to be a joke, but I could still feel some fear in the pit of my stomach.

"No," She said and then she punched me in the shoulder. "That's for even thinking I would." Then she pulled me a little closer and gave me a smooch on the cheek. "And that's for caring," She added.

I looked back at Danny and walked towards him. They just finished putting another beam into place and were preparing the next one.

"Hey, I just wanted to say thanks." Danny just answered with an absent 'hmmm' and looked at his feet, not even really noticing I was talking to him.

I prodded his shoulder and he finally looked up. "Thanks for helping me catch that Skrill. And thanks for sharing the credit." He frowned so I guessed he didn't understand what credit was. "The honor." I tried again.

A small smile appeared on Danny's face, but it didn't quiet reach his eyes.

"Nah, I don't like attention anyway." he said, than he sighed and looked at his feet.

"You're worried about that Skrill, aren't you?" I asked. Danny's eyes became as sad and as empty as the sea. Arrow, feeling his friend's sadness, nuzzled his cheek and purred in an attempt to cheer him up a little. Still looking at his feet Danny lifted his hand and scratched him behind his horns.

"I don't want him to die." he replied weakly. "Whether it is because if his wounds, or because he is too aggressive to be set free again."

I sighed too. "I'm afraid about that too; ever since we became friends with the dragons most of us are afraid of that." I put my hand on his shoulder. "But don't think about that now, there is still hope." Suddenly a few yells sounded behind us. Danny's sadness was gone immediately, as he ran off to help lift the beam they had almost dropped.

I thought about the look Danny had had in his eyes. Danny was always very protective over everyone who needed help, especially over me sometimes. But the look he had in his eyes a few seconds ago was something very different.

Something was going on here, and now I hoped even more that it would end well for the Skrill.

Finally, finally, FINALLY! I wanted to write this chappy for so long! Now we are really getting this party started. This is the first important chapter; the other ones will be 'Return of the prodigal dragon', 'Thorsday Thursday', 'Meet the Fentons' and 'Oh my Thundergod!'

I hope your finals were good and hope for the sake of your own amusement mine are good as well. Until next time.