Disclaimer: I do not own anything from How to train your dragon
Chapter 8: Appetite for Destruction
At another island away from Berk, two wild Deadly Nadders were busy grooming themselves. All seemed peaceful for now, until one of the Nadders got hit and splattered with a bag filled with yellow paint. This caused the two Nadders to fly away in shock and confusion.
'Hey, what's going on?' The Nadder that got hit asked.
'I don't know, but I don't like the color yellow. I'm getting out of here!' The other Nadder said.
'I'm with you!'
Hiccup, Toothless, Astrid and Stormfly watched as the two wild Nadders flew away. "Okay, these Nadders get tagged yellow. That's how we know they belong in Sorrow Island." Hiccup explained.
Fishlegs came up with the idea to tag the wild dragons with paint according to what island they live on so that they can keep track of which dragon belongs where and they migration path. So Hiccup, Astrid, Ruffnut and Tuffnut flew out to tag some of the dragons on different islands.
Astrid spotted another Deadly Nadder and threw her bag at it. "Like this?" She got her target. She then continued to chase a few more Deadly Nadders, tagging. "You're free to join in! Anytime." She said to Hiccup when she noticed that he was just watching her.
"Okay. How about now?" With that he took out his shield, and turned it into a makeshift crossbow. He then loaded up the bag of paint and shot it at a Nadder passing by. He got his mark.
"Alright, I have to admit. That shield is pretty cool." Astrid praised.
"Why, thank you. I quite like it too." Hiccup said admiring his shield. He then put it back. "I'm gonna check on the Thorston twins. They're supposed to be marking the Crescent Island dragons."
"I'm sure that's going really well." Astrid said sarcastically. Knowing the Thorston twins, they were definitely going to tag everything except for the dragons.
Her prediction wasn't completely far off.
On Crescent Island, Ruffnut and Tuffnut were searching for dragons to tag, both holding bags of purple paint. Ruffnut then spotted a Gronckle and snuck up to it. Tuffnut spotted the same Gronckle and was doing the same thing his twin was doing.
Tuffnut threw his bag first, but the Gronckle flew away, causing the bag to hit Ruffnut and get her face covered in purple.
Tuffnut was amused by this "Ha, ha, cool! I've always wondered what you'll look like purple."
"You know, you could at least say you're sorry." Ruffnut said, wiping the paint of her face.
"You're right, I could. Okay, I'm sorry." Tuffnut said, before adding. "That your head got in the way."
"Heard that." Ruffnut said. She then threw her bag of paint onto Tuffnut. This started a paint war between the Thorston twins.
Hiccup and Toothless arrived during the paint war and were not impressed.
"Guys!" Hiccup yelled getting their attention. The blonde twins then threw paint at him, but the Haddock boy managed to dodge in time. "You're supposed to be tagging the dragons. Not each other."
"You know, if you think it through, Hiccup, this is pretty much your fault." Tuffnut pointed out
"How did you figure that?" Hiccup asked in disbelief.
"Uh, hello? You armed us with paint. Where did you think that was gonna go?" Ruffnut said as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. She then turned to her brother. "And we're the stupid ones."
"How many of these do we have to do, anyway?" Tuffnut asked Hiccup.
"As many as we can. The more dragons we tag on each island, the better we can keep track on where they belong and where they may migrate to." Hiccup explained.
"Wow! That was... uh..." Ruffnut trailed off, trying to find the right word.
"Fascinating?" Hiccup offered.
"What's the opposite of fascinating?" Tuffnut asked.
Hiccup just gave an exasperated sigh.
Astrid and Stormfly then flew in. "Hiccup? Isn't it supposed to be one dragon color per island?"
"Yeah, why?" Hiccup asked, turning to Astrid.
"I see two colors down there." She said, pointing to a few dragons with green paint on them. "Have we been using the wrong one?"
"I don't think so." Hiccup said. He then turned to the blonde twins.
"Don't look at us. If we had green paint, you know where it would be." Tuffnut said.
"Well I better ask Fishlegs. This was his idea. And Hicca to be sure." Hiccup said, walking to his saddle
"You're gonna fly all the way back to Berk?" Astrid asked.
"No, I don't have to." Hiccup said, taking out a charcoal and a piece of paper.
"What's he talking about?" Ruffnut asked her brother.
"He must have some of that magic paper we've been talking about." Tuffnut replied.
"He always gets the good stuff." Ruffnut grumbled.
"It's not magic paper. Fishlegs, Hicca and I have been working on something new. We call it 'airmail'." Hiccup explained as he wrote out the note and tied it onto Sharpshots' leg.
"Stupid name." Tuffnut commented.
"Right?" Ruffnut agreed.
"Do you really think that Terrible Terror's gonna fly all the way to Berk?" Astrid asked skeptically.
"Yep, and right to the academy. Terrors are especially territorial, so it's a natural instinct to return where they were released." Hiccup explained. The Terror then flew away to its destination.
"And how will we know if he made it?" Astrid asked.
"When Fishlegs, Raeda, Hicca and Snotlout meet us at Dragon Island." Hiccup answered.
"Please. If that happens, I'll kiss Snotlout on the lips." Astrid said, not believing the airmail would work.
Poor Astrid was going to regret saying that, because the Terrible Terror did make it back to Berk and brought the message straight to the Academy. Fishlegs, Hicca, Raeda and Snotlout all got on their dragons and made it to Dragon Island before Hiccup and Astrid could.
Snotlout was lying on the ground snoring while Hicca, Raeda and Fishlegs were waiting for the others to arrive.
Hiccup and Astrid have arrived, and Astrid was horrified to see that the airmail actually did work.
"Well, look who it is. Fishlegs, Snotlout, Raeda and Hicca, all four right here on Dragon Island." Hiccup said mostly to Astrid, waking Snotlout up in the process.
"Yeah, bro. We got your message." Hicca said, holding out the paper.
"Glad to see the airmail worked. This is really going to come in handy." Raeda said.
"Astrid was just talking about you." Hiccup said to his cousin, who was slowly regaining consciousness.
"Of course she was." Snotlout said stretching.
Astrid just glared at Hiccup, who puckered his lips at her. "Say it and those will be the last words you'll ever speak." She warned.
"So, uh, what's the emergency?" Fishlegs asked.
"We've been seeing dragons painted green on Crescent Island." Hiccup explained.
"That's your emergency? I was in the middle of something very important." Snotlout complained.
"You were sound asleep." Fishlegs reminded him.
"Beauty rest." Snotlout corrected. "You think 'this' just happens?" He asked, gesturing to his face.
Raeda rolled her eyes at that.
"Fishlegs, Hicca, does it make any sense to either of you that those dragons would be there." Hiccup asked his sister and his friend.
"Not unless they absolutely have to." Hicca answered.
"Yeah, they shouldn't be there." Fishlegs agreed. He took out a map and spread it out on the ground. Each nearby island is marked with a different color. "Crescent Island is clearly marked purple."
"That's what I thought." Hiccup said.
"So what were the green dragons doing there?" Astrid asked.
"First of all, it's not green, it's pistachio. They belong to Tall Tree Island, that's where I tagged them." Fishlegs said, pointing to an island on the map.
"Yeah, well your pistachio dragons aren't where their supposed to be." Astrid replied.
"Huh, that's weird." Fishlegs said, wondering why the dragons are in a different place.
"I thought dragons only stayed in one place and make that place their own." Raeda said.
"Yeah that's what they do. They shouldn't be moving to other islands at this time." Hicca said.
"We need to figure this out." Hiccup said. "Let's check out Tall Trees Island."
"Sounds awesome, I was wondering what I was going to do for the rest of the day." Snotlout said sarcastically as he got on Hookfang.
The others got on their dragons as well and flew up. However, Snotlout steered Hookfang and took off in a different direction. "See you on Berk, suckers!" Snotlout yelled to the others.
"I'm not the only one who saw that coming, am I?" Raeda asked.
"Nope." Hicca answered.
The five of them then flew off to their destination.
After a bit of flying, they reached their destination. Or, at least, what was supposed to be their destination. The five dragon riders soon discovered that Tall Tree Island was nowhere to be found.
"I don't understand, we should be there by now." Hiccup said to the others.
"Maybe we're off course." Astrid suggested.
"I don't do off course, Astrid." Fishlegs said firmly. He pulled out the map to look at it. "According to this map, it should be right…" He trailed off when he saw that he couldn't find any signs of the island.
"You were saying?" Astrid asked.
"Even if we're off course, we should still be able to see it from here." Hiccup said.
"Unless we went completely off course." Raeda added.
"Well, an island can't just disappear." Astrid said.
"Not unless something happened to the island." Hicca said.
"Earthquake, maybe?" Fishlegs suggested
"Volcano." Hiccup suggested.
"Hurricane." Raeda chimed in.
"Wrath of Thor, wrath of Odin." Fishlegs listed. His suggestions earned him stares from the others. "What? Just throwing possible explanations."
"None of that explains this." Astrid said, pointing ahead of her.
The others looked to where the blonde girl was pointing and saw a wild Monstrous Nightmare ahead of them. This dragon was tagged with an orange color.
"Orange." Astrid said.
"Burnt apricot actually." Fishlegs corrected.
Astrid ignored that. "What island are they from?"
Hiccup looked at the map. "According to this, they're from Sunstone Island." He said.
Fishlegs smiled in recognition. "Ah, Sunstone Island: pristine beaches and a variable smorgasbord of fine mineral deposits for Meatlug."
"Looks like we got our new destination." Hicca said.
"Sunstone Island it is." Hiccup agreed.
The group then set off to their new destination.
They reached their next destination, but the island seemed to be a bit different.
"Huh? I thought it was bigger." Fishlegs said, looking around.
Okay it was a lot different.
The island was so small it only had enough space for Meatlug to land on. Stormfly and Toothless were hanging on the edge of the island while Sparkfire and Midnight were hovering nearby.
"You think?" Astrid asked rhetorically, hanging on to her saddle.
"I have to say the beaches are a disappointment." Hiccup remarked sarcastically.
"Well at least we know why the dragons left this island." Raeda pointed out.
"One island in missing and another island's been sunk." Fishlegs noted.
"I guess an entire island can disappear." Astrid said.
"Yeah, but how? How do you sink an entire island?" Hicca wondered.
"And if the islands are gone, where do the dragons go?" Fishlegs asked.
"Good questions. Dragons live in specific places for specific reasons." Hiccup pointed out.
"The food they eat, where they nest…" Fishlegs listed.
"If they lose their home, it could endanger their whole species." Astrid said worriedly.
"We got to put an end to whatever's going on around here." Hicca said firmly.
"First we need to figure out what is going on. Let's head back to Dragon Island." Hiccup said.
"If it's still there." Astrid added before they took off.
What no one noticed was that there a huge shadow behind them above what was left of Sunstone Island.
They made it back to Dragon Island and were surprised to see that it was filled with more dragons, all with different colored paints on them.
"Look at them all." Hiccup said, surveying the island full of dragons.
"Check their colors." Astrid said.
"I see pistachio and burnt apricot." Fishlegs noted.
"Look a new color, red" Astrid pointed out.
"Actually it's vermillion." Fishlegs corrected. His comment earned a look from Astrid. "What? It is. Ask Raeda, she's the one who told me the different tones of color."
"It is important to know the different tones of color in art." Raeda informed the blonde girl.
"Whatever color it's called, it means that's another island down. That's three islands down already and something tells the number will increase soon." Hicca said.
Hiccup brought out the map and highlighted the ones that are gone. He then noticed something. "Look at this. It forms a line, which means there are more islands in danger." He connected the fallen lands and then drew and line over the two that were next in its path.
"It's strange how there's a pattern forming from this." Hicca commented.
"Boar-Head Island and Thor Rock Island." Hiccup noted the next two islands in danger. He turned to Toothless. "Toothless, we're going back out."
"Do you guys actually think you can leave without me and Midnight?" Hicca asked with her eyebrows raised. Midnight warbled in agreement.
"I'm coming as well." Raeda declared.
"Me too." Astrid said. "This could get dangerous."
"What makes you think that?" Hiccup asked as the four of them got on their dragons.
"Oh I don't know. Islands disappearing mysteriously, dragons fleeing in terror, call it a hunch." Astrid answered.
"And who are we kidding? We attract danger wherever we go." Raeda pointed out.
"All very good points." Hicca said.
"Fine." Hiccup agreed, turning to Fishlegs. "Fishlegs, you stay here in case anymore dragons show up."
"Got it." Fishlegs said nodding. "New dragons, Meatlug and I are on the case."
The four dragon riders and dragons flew off to their new destination.
They reached Boar-Head Island, but just like Tall Tree Island, it disappeared.
"Boar-Head Island should be down there." Hiccup stated, pointing down to the empty sea. "It's gone too."
"That's five islands now. Whatever the cause of this, it's moving fast." Hicca said.
"So now what?" Astrid asked.
"Now we go to our next destination, Thor Rock Island." Raeda said. "Hopefully we can get there before it's gone."
Unfortunately for them, they were too late. By the time they reached the Island, it was sinking, now resembling Breakneck Bog.
"Whoa, look at what's left of Thor Rock." Astrid said looking at the Island below her. "You know maybe Fishlegs wrath of Gods theory isn't so crazy."
"Let's get a closer look, bud." Hiccup said to Toothless.
The group landed on the remains of the Island and surveyed the place. They then found a very familiar hole in the ground
"Those marks look familiar, but different somehow." Hiccup said.
"I think I know why that is, but I really hope I'm wrong." Hicca said worriedly as she moved closer to Midnight
"Different how?" Astrid asked.
"Definitely bigger." Hiccup answered.
"I can only think of one dragon capable of making this." Raeda said.
"Don't say it, please don't say it." Hicca pleaded.
Suddenly a loud and familiar scream was echoed, followed by the ground shaking
"That sounds like-" Astrid started to say.
"My theory is getting confirmed." Hicca finished
Then a large a dragon suddenly emerged out of the ground, revealing to be the Screaming Death! And it looked a lot bigger than before.
"The Screaming Death!" Hiccup yelled. The larger dragon went back underground then emerged back up. It continued the process for a bit. "Someone's been eating their vegetables."
"And everything else in sight." Astrid said.
"A dragon with a large appetite, that's just our luck." Raeda deadpanned.
The Screaming Death came back into the air and gave out a piercing scream, disorienting Toothless, Midnight, Sparkfire and Stormfly.
"Its scream disorientates the dragons." Hiccup reminded the other three as he tried to regain control of Toothless.
"No kidding." Astrid said while doing the same for Stormfly.
The Screaming Death then went back down underground.
"The Screaming Death has been destroying all the islands. It must be tunneling underneath and coursing them to collapse in on themselves." Hiccup inferred
"But why would it do that?" Astrid wondered.
"We're going to find out, aren't we?" Hicca asked, knowingly.
"Yep, let's get a closer look." Hiccup said. He turned to see both Astrid and Raeda staring at him, as if he'd gone mad. "You two wanted dangerous."
"No we predicted danger, we didn't invite it." Raeda corrected.
They tried to follow the Screaming Death, but suddenly, the larger dragon burst through the grounds in front of Raeda and Astrid and behind Hiccup and Hicca!
"Hicca! Hiccup!" Astrid warned.
"Look out!" Raeda yelled.
The twins and the Night Furies turned to face the Screaming Death. Midnight and Toothless growled at the bigger dragon, both their pupils turned into slits at the new threat. "Easy, guys. Maybe it wants to be friends." Hiccup said, more in a hopeful tone than in a sure tone.
"Yeah, I really don't think that's the case, bro." Hicca said as the Screaming Death gave them a glare
"No arguments there, sis." Hiccup agreed. "Let's move!"
The four of them flew away right before the Screaming Death fired at them. The large dragon continued to chase after the twins and the Night Furies, blasting at them every chance it got. Toothless and Midnight tried to lose it by flying into a maze of sea stacks, but that plan failed when the aggressive dragon blasted through every sea stack in its path.
That's when Astrid and Raeda swooped in. The two girls flew their dragon above the Creaming Death, where they could throw paint at it, hoping to hinder it.
"Hope you like pistachio." Astrid yelled at the rogue dragon, before she and Raeda flew to a safe distance.
Instead of stopping it, this act made the Screaming Death to be more annoyed, causing it to send another loud, disorienting scream that affected the dragons.
"Whoa! Steady Stormfly. Just hang in there" Astrid soothed trying to keep the blue Nadder under control.
"It's okay, girl. It's alright." Raeda said to her dragon, as Sparkfire struggled to stay in the sky.
Toothless and Midnight managed to fire plasma blasts at the Screaming Death, making it stop its roar. This allowed Stormfly and Sparkfire to recover from the scream and retaliate with their own fire blasts. Frustrated, the Screaming Death decided to retreat.
"How's that for accuracy?" Astrid asked, watching the Screaming Death fly away.
The auburn twins just exchanged worried looks. The Screaming Death may be defeated for now, but it will definitely bounce back.
They flew back to Dragon Island and saw that there were even more dragons then before, most probably from the two destroyed islands.
Fishlegs ran to them as soon as he saw them land. "Periwinkle blue. There are now Periwinkle blue marked dragons here." He reported.
"I know from Boar Head Island." Hiccup said as they got off their dragons.
"A-and look there's eggshell white." Fishlegs said pointing to the dragons with said paint color.
"From Thor Rock Island." Astrid stated.
"What happened to them?" Fishlegs asked as Hiccup placed a map back on the stone platform.
"The same thing that happened to all the other islands. The Screaming Death." Hiccup answered as he crossed out the two islands with his charcoal pencil.
Fishlegs eyes widened in fear at the new information. "Huh, the Screaming Death is back?"
"I don't think it ever really left." Hiccup stated.
"Yeah, it just got bigger and nastier." Astrid said.
"Definitely bigger." Hicca agreed.
"Uh, how much bigger?" Fishlegs asked nervously, scared to hear the answer.
"Chump, chump there goes your island big." Astrid answered.
"Big enough to eat us all and still be hungry." Raeda added.
Fishlegs gulped nervously. He definitely didn't want to see the new Screaming Death anytime soon! Sadly for him, something tells him he will have to eventually.
Hiccup continued to look at the map, connecting the fallen islands together. "It's just as I thought." He said. "The Screaming Death is following an imaginary line destroying everything in its path. It is following a pattern like Hicca said." He then drew a line through the circled islands towards Dragon Island.
"It's coming this way." Fishlegs said fearfully.
Hicca looked at the map as well and her eyes widened. "Oh no. Don't tell me…"
"I'm afraid so, sis." Hiccup said, knowing what his sister is thinking.
"What? What is it?" Raeda asked.
"It's not the worst part." Hiccup answered grimly. He then drew a line from Dragon Island to Berk.
Astrid gasped as the realization came to her. "It's heading straight to Berk."
"We have to get back to Berk and warn Stoick." Fishlegs urged.
"No! We head it off. We make our stand here." Hiccup said firmly. "There's no other land between here and Berk."
"He's right. We need to stop the Screaming Death before it can endanger anyone on Berk." Hicca agreed.
"Look, I'm all for danger, but did you two see the size of that thing?" Astrid asked rhetorically.
"And five dragon riders and five dragons isn't going to enough for a dragon like that." Raeda pointed out.
"It's not going to be just us." Hiccup said walking up to Toothless and brought Sharpshot. "We're sending for reinforcements."
"Huh, Snotlout and the twins. Oh, I feel so much better." Astrid said sarcastically as Hiccup wrote a note and tied it on to Sharpshots' leg.
"Hey, we're going to need all the help we can get." Hiccup argued.
Sharpshot then flew up into the air and flew towards Berk.
Back on Berk, the Thorston twins decided to continue their paint war.
Tuffnut was quietly walking around one of the catapults, looking for his sister. He found Barf and Belch who were both sleeping.
"Hey, you guys. Where is she?" Tuffnut whispered. Belch raised his head a little to look at his human, only to lower it down and continue to sleep. "I won't tell you told me. I swear it."
"She's right here." Ruffnut's voice came from above. Tuffnut looked up and was able to dodge the paint just in time. He looked back up and saw Ruffnut standing above him laughing with a now empty bucket in her hands. When she got to the ground, Tuffnut grabbed her by her boots, to her surprise. She recovered and quickly tackled him, starting a fight. They continued to fight until they saw Sharpshot staring at them.
"Why is that Terrible Terror staring us down?" Tuffnut wondered, not recognizing Sharpshot.
"Right. I thought it was just me." Ruffnut said.
"It's totally eyeballing us." Tuffnut said, feeling a little creeped out by the tiny dragon.
"What does it want?" Ruffnut asked nervously.
"Whatever it's selling I'm not buying." Tuffnut said.
'I message for you from my owner.' Sharpshot chirped.
But the blonde twins clearly didn't remember the new air mail, because they quickly ran away from the tiny dragon. They ran down the stairs, hoping to get rid of the Terrible Terror.
"Is it gone?" Ruffnut asked.
"I think so." Tuffnut answered, hopeful.
They both peered over the platform and still saw Sharpshot staring at them. 'I still have your message.'
"Okay, on three we run." Ruffnut decided. "One." She then grabbed her brother and they continued down the stairs, but Sharpshot came in their path, causing them to stop.
'Where are you two going? Don't you want to see the note?' Sharpshot asked
"Leave us alone. You demented little monster." Tuffnut exclaimed afraid, before he and Ruffnut ran back the stairs.
'Wait! Where are you going? Are we playing tag? Am I it?' The tiny dragon wondered, chasing after the blonde twins.
Back on Dragon Island, Hiccup was looking for Ruffnut, Tuffnut, Snotlout and their dragons through his spyglass and found none of them even close.
"They should be here by now. What's taking them so long?" Hicca wondered.
"I don't know, sis. But if they don't show up, it's just going to be us against the Screaming Death."
Fishlegs, Astrid and Raeda then approached the auburn twins.
"Hiccup, the yellow mark dragons from Sorrow Island just started showing up." Fishlegs reported.
"Which means the Screaming Death is only an island away." Astrid said.
"And it won't take long for it to be done with that island and come here." Raeda said.
Hiccup took one more look through the spy-glass and sighed "Looks like helps not coming." Hiccup said and looked at the map. "Alright, we have to set up a defense here on Dragon Island with what we have."
"Maybe we should fall back and head for home." Astrid suggested.
"We can't. If the Screaming Death destroys, Dragon Island all these dragons will overwhelm Berk." Hiccup said.
"And the Screaming Death won't be far behind." Fishlegs added.
"So not only do we have to deal with an overflow of dragons, we'll also have to deal with a dragon that wants to sink our island." Hicca piped in.
"Exactly." Hiccup said.
"How soon until it gets here?" Astrid asked.
She got her answer when the group heard a familiar loud roar in the distance.
"Not long." Raeda answered.
The auburn twins exchanged a look and nodded. "Toothless, Hicca Midnight and I will try and buyus some time. You guys join me when Snotlout and the Thorston twins get here." He instructed, grabbing his shield and getting on Toothless while Hicca does the same with Midnight.
"I'm going with you." Astrid said with her axe in her hands.
"So am I." Raeda said, getting her bow ready.
"No! We need you two as a safety net in case it gets past us." Hiccup said firmly.
"With a dragon that size, we're definitely going to need some reinforcements." Hicca added.
"So you're leaving me and Raeda by ourselves?" Astrid asked.
"Uh, hello man on dragon here, right behind you." Fishlegs reminded her, pointing to himself.
"I'm sure there was no offence intended." Raeda said.
"You know what I meant, Fishlegs." Astrid said.
"I do." Fishlegs said, crossing his arms. "And I like to go on record saying we don't appreciate it. Do we girl?" Meatlug just gave him a lick in response.
Astrid looked back to Hiccup and Hicca and sighed "Just go." She said.
Toothless and Midnight then took off towards the Screaming Death.
Back on Berk, the Thorston twins continued to avoid Sharpshot, much to the poor dragons' confusion. He couldn't understand why those two were avoiding him.
The blonde twins then came up with a new strategy to avoid the Terrible Terror; act like a statue. Tuffnut had his arms stretched out holding a shield in one hand and a dagger in the other. Ruffnut was on her brother's shoulders with her own arms stretched out similar to her twin.
Sharpshot just watched them in confusion, wondering what they were doing. 'What kind of game is this?'
One viking passed them and was also confused by what he saw. He wanted to ask what they were doing, but knew better when it involves Ruffnut and Tuffnut. He decides to just walk away, pretending he didn't see anything.
"Statues. Ha, great idea." Tuffnut whispered to his sister.
"It's like we're not even here." Ruffnut whispered back.
Snotlout walks by and stops when he sees them. "What are you two muttonheads doing?" He asked.
"We're not muttonheads." Tuffnut replied.
"Yeah, we're statues." Ruffnut corrected
Tuffnut then thought about it for a moment. "I guess we could be muttonhead statues." Ruffnut immediately agreed to that and then they started posing with the mouths open and blank expressions.
Snotlout face-palmed himself and said. "No! I mean why are you—"
"Shh, it's right behind you." Tuffnut interrupted.
"Pretend we're not here." Ruffnut whispered.
"What are you talking about?" Snotlout asked. He turned around and saw Sharpshot with a note tried to his leg. Unlike the twins, he knew what it meant. "Oh, cool Airmail. Huh, didn't think it'd catch on." He mused, retrieving the note, to Sharpshots relief.
"Airmail?" Tuffnut repeated as he and his sister relaxed from their pose.
Ruffnut scoffed. "Pfft, stupid name."
"Pfft, muttonheads." Snotlout retorted.
"No. Statues of muttonheads." Tuffnut corrected.
The twins went back to their pose, while Snotlout read the letter as Sharpshot flew away.
In the air, the Screaming Death was flying closer and closer to Dragon Island. It got sidetracked, however, when Toothless and Midnight fired plasma blasts at it. That succeeded in making the larger dragon angry and it set its sights on the two humans and two Night Furies.
"Well, we clearly got its attention, guys." Hiccup said. "Now let's play a little follow the leader and see if it goes for the shiny shield trick again."
"Let's hope lighting strikes twice in this case." Hicca said.
Hiccup used his shield to reflect the sunlight onto the Screaming Death. As soon as that happened, the wild dragon started shooting fireballs at them. This allowed them to lure the Screaming Death away from Dragon Island and into another maze of sea stacks. The Screaming Death continued to chase after them, smashing through the sea stacks in its path.
"Ah, that was easy." Hiccup said, smiling at the success of their mission. But then the Screaming Death looked back at Dragon Island and remembered what it came for. It started flying back at that direction.
"You just had to say that, Hiccup." Hicca sighed.
The four of them then flew towards the Screaming Death, hoping to lure it away again with the sunlight. "Come on. You love shiny things." He said to the Screaming Death, only to be ignored. "Or at least you use to."
"Looks like he got over it." Hicca said
The Screaming Death then slammed its tail at Toothless and Hiccup. Luckily, Hiccup pulled up his shield in time to avoid getting hit by the spikes by the force still cause them to fly back into Hicca and Midnight and into the water! Luckily, the two Night Furies managed to recover in time to pull up before they can hit the water.
"Okay, so it gets bigger and smarter. Not the greatest combination." Hiccup muttered.
"Now what?" Hicca wondered.
On Dragon Island, Astrid was using the spyglass to look for Snotlout and the Thorston twins, but yet again found nothing.
"What are these three doing? Don't tell me they got lost." Raeda said.
"I knew we couldn't rely on that Terrible Terror Airmail." Astrid complained the spy-glass away.
"Actually, we can like all dragons Terrible Terrors are—" Fishlegs began to explain.
"Territorial. I know." Astrid finished, interrupting him..
Fishlegs eyes lit up when he got an idea. "Wait. That's it!" He said. He then turned towards Astrid and grabbed her by her shoulders, much to her and Raedas' surprise. "Astrid you're a genius. I could kiss you on the lips right now."
Astrid then quickly shoved him away. "No one is kissing me on the lips ever!" She said firmly, being reminded of the non-bet (she never officially agreed to it) she made with Hiccup.
"And why exactly is she a genius?" Raeda asked.
Before Fishlegs could answer, the three of them saw Toothless and Midnight firing plasma blasts at the Screaming Death repeatedly. But the Rogue dragon continued flying towards its target; Dragon Island.
"You two go and cover Hiccup and Hicca's backs." Fishlegs instructed. "I've got an idea. But I'll need some time." He then ran off.
"Wait! Where are you going?" Astrid yelled.
"Just trust me." Was all Fishlegs said. He then continued running.
Astrid and Raeda exchanged looks and shrugged. They got on their dragons and flew off to help their friends, hoping that whatever Fishlegs has planned will work.
Back in the air, the Haddock twins and the Night Furies continued to fire plasma blast after plasma blast at the Screaming Death, but it didn't stop the dragon. It only succeeded in making it angrier with each shot.
"We're barely making a dent in that thing." Hiccup said.
"If anything, I think we're making it more determined to get to Dragon Island." Hicca said.
The Screaming Death then roared at them, deciding that now was the time to strike back. It was about to fire at the group when it was suddenly taken by surprise by two fire blasts!
"Turn around you over-grown earthworm!" Astrid yelled as she, Stormfly, Sparkfire and Raeda flew pass the larger dragon, gaining its attention. The Screaming Death then focused on the two girls on the Deadly Nadders. It shot fireball after fireball at its new opponents, but luckily Sparkfire and Stormfly managed to dodge them all, keeping their humans safe.
The Haddock twins then noticed Fishlegs and Meatlug fly by, getting ready to confront the Screaming Death themselves.
"Fishlegs! What are you doing?" Hiccup yelled. "You need backup!"
"More like an army." Hicca commented.
"Oh, I've got an army." Fishlegs said with confidence. As if on cue, a large group of Gronckles from Dragon Island flew towards the Ingerman boy and his Gronckle, all ready to face the terrifying dragon that's been causing chaos on their islands. "Meatlug! Fire!"Meatlug fired her lava blast at the Screaming Death, causing the rest of the Gronckles to follow suit. Getting overwhelmed by the amount of blasts it was receiving, the Screaming Death tried to fly away but was unsuccessful. Some of the Gronckles then followed up with their tail-bludgeon attack.
"Man, it's like Gronckle-fest out here." Astrid said as she and Raeda to where Hiccup and Hicca were. "How did he do that?"
"Gronckles are territorial too. They will defend their home at any cost." Hiccup explained, catching on to the plan. "Great idea, Fishlegs!"
"I know, right. Who's the safety net now?" Fishlegs exclaimed in triumph.
"Hopefully, if this keeps up the Screaming Death will give up and leave." Hicca said.
"Let's just hope it doesn't decide to go straight to Berk instead." Raeda pointed out.
Meatlug then joined her fellow Gronckles and slammed her tail at the Screaming Death. Then the larger dragon decided that enough was enough and dove underground on Dragon Island.
"You see that? It ran away." Fishlegs cheered, happy that his plan worked.
But Hiccup and Hicca were a bit doubtful, especially when they noticed the ground where the Screaming Death dove under started shaking. "Uh, not quite." Hiccup said.
He was proven right when the ground started to shake!
"We need to get it out of there!" Hicca urged.
Hiccup nodded in agreement. "Astrid, Raeda, Fishlegs get as many wild dragons together as you can. Hicca and I will try and force it back up to the surface."
The group immediately split up with Hiccup, Hicca, Midnight and Toothless diving into the hole made by the Screaming Death. They flew through the passageway, searching for the larger dragon until they reached a cavern that was started to fill up with water.
"It's trying to sink the island from within." Hiccup murmured.
"It's like sinking a ship." Hicca noted.
Suddenly, Toothless and Midnight gave out roars, alerting their humans of the Screaming Death's presence just as the fireball came.
"Midnight, dodge!" Hicca yelled.
"Toothless, look out!" Hiccup yelled.
The four of them quickly flew out the way they came in, with the Screaming Death close behind them. Toothless and Midnight both used echolocation as guides. It looked like they were about to make it out of the grounds when they suddenly found the entrance blocked!
Luckily, the two Night Furies used their echolocation and found another way out. It wasn't long till the four of them safely above the ground and under the sun.
They were then joined by Snotlout, Ruffnut and Tuffnut.
"Hey, we got your message." Tuffnut said to the Haddock twins.
"About time, what took you guys so long?" Hicca asked.
"What he meant was one of us got the message, and it certainly wasn't these two." Snotlout explained, gesturing to Ruffnut and Tuffnut. Suddenly the Screaming Death emerged from the ground and flew towards the teens and dragons. "Whoa! Did that thing get bigger?"
"Yeah! And awesomer." Tuffnut cheered, excited at having to face their new opponent.
"Not really for us." Hicca said, looking at the Screaming Death.
The Screaming Death lunged forward to attack them, but the Thorston twins got Barf and Belch to fire at the larger dragon before it could attack. This caused the Screaming Death to retaliate with fireballs, which the group was able to dodge.
That was when Astrid, Raeda and Fishlegs joined the fight with their army of dragons from Dragon Island.
"Alright, dragons let's get territorial." Astrid yelled as she and Stormfly led a herd of Deadly Nadders. They flew right at the Screaming Death. "Stormfly, spine shot!" Stormfly fired several spikes, all successfully hitting the Screaming Death. The herd of Deadly Nadders then fired their own streams of fire and spikes at it.
Then Raeda and Sparkfire flew in with their own herd of Deadly Nadders.
"Come on, guys! This is the dragon responsible for the destruction of your homes. It's time for revenge!" Raeda yelled at the other Nadders. She then got her own dragon to fire at the Screaming Death, with the other Nadders following suit.
Next were Fishlegs and Meatlug leading a herd of Gronckles.
"Meatlug, dive!" Fishlegs ordered. Meatlug dove, leading the other Gronckles to dive in as well and slammed their bludgeon-like tail right at the Screaming Death. The Gronckles then followed up with lava blasts.
"It's working!" Hiccup yelled in triumph. "All the wild dragons are defending their homes."
"The Screaming Death has got to give up now, it's outnumbered!" Hicca exclaimed, hoping her prediction will come true.
To her glee, her prediction did come true! The Screaming Death knew it was fighting a losing battle and had no choice but to retreat back to where it came from.
"I don't think the Screaming Death is going to mess with Dragon Island anymore." Astrid said smiling.
"Not if it wants to meet the full force of the dragons." Raeda agreed.
But the dragon riders celebration was cut short when the saw the ground starting to shake.
"Oh no! We forgot about the holes the Whispering Death made!" Hicca exclaimed.
"The island's sinking!" Hiccup exclaimed.
It was Fishlegs who came up with a solution. "Lava blast!" Fishlegs yelled to Meatlug and the other dragons.
The other teens watched him and Meatlug lead the Gronckles the holes, where the dragons fired lava blasts directly onto it. The blasts succeeded in covering up the holes, preventing the water from the ocean from entering it.
"The lava is stabilizing the island." Hiccup said in awe. He then looked at Fishlegs. "Fishlegs, Meatlug, you two were the hero's today."
"Great job, guys!" Hicca cheered
"Oh, come on you've making us blush." Fishlegs said modestly, giving Meatlug a hug, who licked him in reply.
The teens and dragons headed back to their home getting some rest and food after the tiring battle against the Screaming Death. Later on in the evening the eight teens met back in one of the watch-tower across the Academy.
"Everybody saw how that Screaming Death turned tail and ran as soon as Hookfang and I showed up, right?" Snotlout boasted.
"Huh, and all those wild dragons had nothing to do with it." Astrid said sarcastically, rolling her eyes.
"Correct." Snotlout said with a grin.
"Yeah I bet you and Hookfang could beat the army of wild dragons anytime you want. In fact, why don't we go to Dragon Island right now to prove that?" Raeda challenged.
Snotlout paled at that. "N-not really necessary. It has been a long day after fighting the Screaming Death, Hookfang's probably too tired for another fight. A-and those dragons might also need some time to rest as well." He said causing Raeda to roll her eyes.
"As long as we never have to see the Screaming Death again. It's give Meatlug gas." Fishlegs said, before lowering his voice. "And I don't have to tell you what that's like."
Astrid walked over to where Hiccup and Hicca were standing and looking out at the sea. Both twins had worried looks on their faces.
"Hey, did you two find anything else on the Screaming Death?" Astrid asked.
"Yeah, the only information we found of them were buried deep in Borks' note, which was why we didn't find them earlier." Hicca answered before she and her twin turned to face Astrid and the others.
"The good news they only hatch once every hundred years or so." Hiccup stated.
"That's the good news." Astrid asked, having a bad feeling.
"What's the bad news?" Snotlout asked.
"Huh, let me guess. What's it going to be the end of the world?" Tuffnut joked before laughing.
"Close." Hiccup and Hicca said grimly.
Tuffnut abruptly stopped laughing, not liking the serious expression on the auburn twins faces. "Ah, I was kidding." He said.
"Unfortunately we weren't." Hicca said.
"The bad news is it's still out there." Hiccup said looking out to sea. "And someday it'll come back to Berk." This caused the other teens to go in silence, wondering if they would be ready in time for that moment.
Out in the ocean, the Screaming Death was flying, still sore from its' humiliating defeat. The dragon made a vow to get back at those small humans with their dragons. The next time they face off, they won't win…
