Chapter 9 Into the howling dark

The twins advanced slowly through the pitch black of the forest. The faint light from Astrid`s necklace lighting the way. There was an eerie silence in the forest. Occasionally a twig would snap and the twins would look around for signs of Dr. Hydra.

"He`s playing hide and seek with us." Ruffnut murmured.

"More like cat and mouse." Her brother whispered in response.

In the distance, they saw a flash of lightning. The rumbling of thunder broke the creepy silence in the forest. Tuffnut flinched as a wolf howled in the distance.

"Try not to wet yourself." Ruffnut teased.

Billy bob scanned the forest with his 40/40 vision. (Since he has two heads), keeping an eye out for the plant they were looking for.

Zoey was leading the way searching for the scent of their target.

"You remember those stories Gobber used to tell us?" Ruffnut asked her brother.

"The ones about the crazy farmer troll who lit people on fire or the ones about the Kazars." Tuffnut whispered in reply.

"Both." His sister replied.

Then a growling came from behind them. The group slowly tuned around to see a black weredingo sitting atop the tallest tree.
"You had to bring up the Kazars." Ruffnut mumbled.

"Well at least there's only one." Tuffnut shot back.

Then a dozen pairs of red eyes lit up the shadows.

Tuffnut sighed, "Well at least…"

Ruffnut put her hand over his mouth.

Just shut up right now. She told him.

The lead black dingo howled and the pack charged the twins, who quickly drew their weapons.

"I`ll take the guys on the left." Ruffnut told her brother.

"Then I guess I`ll take the ones on the right." Tuffnut replied.

Zoey snarled and began shooting hundreds of tiny ice shards at their attackers. 8 of them were dropped almost instantly but the rest slowed their charge to a menacing walk, claws raised and foaming at the mouth. The pack leader was licking his lips in anticipation of the feast to come.

"GET BACK YOU OVERGROWN FLEABAGS!" Ruffnut snarled slashing her sword staff in a wider arc.

"Triton has told that if we kill you we will be free to terrorize the world at night and in the day." The pack leader replied, and then a cloudy mist surrounded his claws.

He raised his claws at them and shot a beam of ice at the twins. Zoey intercepted and shot a stream of purple fire at the oncoming ice storm. The two elements collided and a green light lit up the forest. The two elemental beams were locked in a shoving match. The rest of the weredingos attacked there claws and heads bursting into flames. Billy bob shot a blast of fire at their attackers creating a wall of fire 15ft high, but the Kazars simply jumped over it and pressed their attack.

One Kazar roared and jumped at Tuffnut, but he stabbed through the chest mid leap and forced it to the ground. Tuffnut sliced at one`s chest, but the beast merely snarled and, with its arm shot a fire ball at her, which she deflected with the help of her shield.

Meanwhile, The Kazar pack leader was gaining an upper hand in the battle with Zoey. Then the dragon snarled and began taking a few steps forward. She used her 180 degree vision to find Ruffnut then cleared her mind.

"Fleshling, there is little time I need you to give me a crystal from that necklace." She told Ruffnut telepathically in Dragonese.

"Are you talking to me?" Ruffnut asked as she speared another Kazar through the chest.

"Yes, I know that this surprises you, but I need you to give me a crystal." Zoey hissed.

"Why?" Ruffnut asked.

"Sis, has the cold gotten to you already?" Tuffnut asked.

"There will be time for explanations later. But I need you to trust me until then and put a crystal in the brass locket on my spine." Zoey pleaded.

Ruffnut nodded and ran over to the dragon, ripping a crystal off the necklace and placing into the shield shaped locket on Zoey`s back. Ruffnut jumped off the dragons back and went back to back with her brother. Then there was sharp bark and the Kazar pack suddenly ceased their aggression. Then the pack leader stepped forward.

"My name is Vorsarax, terror of these mountains and this is your last chance to surrender, if you do not you will perish." He growled.

"Think again!" Zoey snarled as the crystal transformed her.

The dragon was fully covered in see through silver armor, 8 inches thick. Numerous gears and wires were visible in its inner workings. A blue visor covered Zoey`s face, the armor looked very advanced…It was Atlantian technology.

"Traitor!" Vorsarax snarled.

Zoey`s visor quickly retracted reviling her face. Then the dragon shot a beam of purple energy at the weredingo who flew several hundred feet backward and crashed through 8 trees.

"Who`s next?" She asked.

"Kill them!" Vorsarax screamed as he got up. The Kazar pack resumed their assault.

Zoey extended her tail blade and in one swipe killed a dozen Kazars .

"Get the plant, save Snotlout!" Zoey shouted as 3 dozen more Kazars swarmed her and Billy bob.

"But you`ll die!" Ruffnut protested.

"A true warrior does not fear death, we will hold them off. Now go!" Zoey roared.

The twins ran off into the night leaving there dragons to fight of a small army. Vorsarax snarled and took chase.

"Maggots, stop running you will only die tired!" The weredingo roared as he chased the teens through the thick underbrush.

"Yellow five leaf clover." Tuffnut murmured to himself as he searched the forest floor for the plant.

Then an ice spear flew past them and impaled itself in a tree. Then up ahead was a clearing filled with the plant they were looking for. Tuffnut sprinted over and scooped up a handful of the herb before he and his sister turned around and began sprinting back to camp. The sky was a little less dark than before.

"It`s almost dawn!" Ruffnut said as she dodged another ice spear.

"We better pick up the pace!" Her brother shouted in reply.

Then a blast of mist hit Ruffnut in her ankles and her feet became frozen to the ground.

"No!" She shouted dropping Astrid`s necklace as she fell to the ground. Tuffnut quickly turned around and ran to his sister's aid.

He pulled out his hatchet and began chopping pieces of ice away.

"Soon!" Ruffnut warned as Vorsarax closed in on them.

"I'm chopping as fast as I can!" Tuffnut protested.

"Bro let me warn you right now." Ruffnut grumbled, "If that guys get his claws on us, I`m never talking to you again."

"You make that sound like it be a bad thing." Her brother snickered.

Another ice spear sailed over their heads; a faint light was visible on the horizon.

"Hurry!" Ruffnut shouted as the Kazar extended his claws.

The ice around Ruffnut`s feet wasn't anywhere near breaking. Vorsarax was about to catch up with them. Tuffnut realized something as he prepared to charge the weredingo head on. Sometimes a Viking`s go to do what a Viking`s got to do, and this was one of those times.

Back at camp, Snotlout`s condition was rapidly declining. Fishlegs look over at the horizon noticing that the sun was probably just a few minutes from rising.

"Come on guys, hurry." He murmured.

Tuffnut sailed through the air and hit a tree as he continued to try and buy time for his sister. Who was trying to chop away the ice that coated her feet.

"Is that the best you got?" Tuffnut snarled as Vorsarax picked him up by the throat, then tossed him to the ground like he was a piece of trash.

"Your species is far weaker then I imagined, as well as undisciplined." Vorsarax sneered putting his clawed foot on Tuffnut`s back and pressing him into the ground.

Tuffnut struggled, trying to break free but he couldn't.

"Pathetic, this is why we are able to steal your children." The weredingo snarled.

Then Ruffnut broke free and picked up Astrid's necklace and pointed it at Vorsarax like a knife.

"Back off, fleabag. No one harasses my brother but me." She growled.

"What are you going to do with that, stab me?" Vorsarax teased walking towards her.

"GET BACK!" She shouted the light the crystal was emitting suddenly turning as bright as the sun.

Then a bolt on energy shot out of the crystal, blowing a chunk of flesh off of the weredingo`s shoulder.

"Impossible!" Vorsarax said dropping to one knee, trying to stop the bleeding with his hand.

Tuffnut then kicked the creature in the between the eyes and the weredingo staggered backwards. Allowing Tuffnut to get away.

"Oh look sis he`s leaving." Tuffnut snickered.

"No wait that's his face!" His sibling replied with a laugh.

Then the two began walking away.

"When I find you , I'll turn you into ketchup." The weredingo groaned.

"Yeah but first you have to catch up! Ruffnut shot back." Then the twins made a break for camp.

The sun was peaking over the horizon by the time the two had made it back. Billy Bob and Zoey had beaten them there though. But they were battered and bruised. Astrid and Hiccup were helping Fishlegs make a pot of soup; all they had to do was add the herbs. But it wouldn't be much of an adventure for our heroes if everything was that simple.

Dr. Hydra sprang from the tree line snarling and cursing at them in German, at least a dozen Kazars had his back. The Vikings drew their weapons. Hiccup had dark circles under his eyes, that combined with fatigue and a general bad attitude made him a force to be reckoned with. Astrid however looked down right ticked off. Dr. Hydra did not have just nine heads like earlier; he had around one hundred very angry, very hungry viper heads ready to devour them. Dawn was just two minutes away; they did not have time for this.

"You shall not escape me this time!" Hydra snarled.

Zoey leaped forward and tackled the massive creature to the floor, her highly advanced armor locking into place as she began to fight.

"You took everything from me, who am I, where's my parents!" She asked Hydra telepathically.

"Your feelings for your "family" are not real; you were created to serve Atlantis." Hydra shouted aloud.

"They are real to me, I will never serve Triton after what he`s done to me!" Zoey growled setting several of Hydra`s heads ablaze. The viper heads shriveled to ashes in the heat, but they did not grow back.

"Fire," Astrid shouted as she cut the head off another Kazar, "We need to set his heads on fire! "

"Gladly!" Tuffnut shouted stabbing a Kazar in the heart.

"Who am I?" Zoey snarled stabbing Hydra in his centipede gut with her claws.

"You tried to make me kill my own father!" She roared.

"Tried?" Hydra said with a wicked laugh.

"I programmed you to do it." Hydra sneered as a dozen of his head began biting her.

Toothless roared and charged in and grabbed Hydra by the stump that used to be his tail and tossed him across the grassy knoll.

Zoey roared and charged after Hydra, trampling several Kazars along the way. Then Hydra shot an energy sphere at Zoey, who dodged it by rolling off to the side. She retaliated by shooting a volley of energy pulses at Hydra. All of them made contact on tore holes in Hydra`s torso. The Atlantian scientist roared and retreated into the undergrowth. It took Toothless` and Firefang`s combined strength to keep Zoey from giving chase. Zoey roared one final time at the retreating scientist before she stopped struggling.

Meanwhile the Teens were feeding Snotlout the Ceozorak soup. Snotlout`s eyes opened and he began to gag. Everyone stepped back as he barfed up a small creature that was a cross between a centipede, a squids and a snake. Astrid ended the creature's life by cutting it in half. No one had yet told her that her dad was responsible for its creation. I doubt any of them wanted too.

"You do not want to know what we`ve been through in the past few hours." Ruff and Tuff said to their friends.

"I was in more danger then you guys were." Snotlout protested, struggling to his feet.

Meanwhile Toothless was walking over to check up on Zoey. He dint know why he was so drawn to her. From the telepathic conversations they`d had (Strange because she was doing most of the taking, while Toothless didn't have any real way of responding) Toothless admired her personality, she was charming, in a stubborn irritating kind of way. She was quiet, precise, and at times seemed very…mechanical but extremely beautiful. (from a Dragon`s perspective) Toothless eventually found her under the tree where Hiccup and Astrid had argued the previous night. Toothless` jaw dropped in surprise.

He saw the young female dragon that was probably two years younger than him staring at a gaping hole in her side. Inside the wound was a series of complex machinery, blinking lights, gears and wires all working under her very real looking skin.

"Oh, Toothless." She told him telepathically covering her wound with her wing. "I`m sorry you have to see me like this."

Toothless sat down next to her, but she scooted away.

"Please, you don't want me as a friend." She pleaded.

Toothless made a gurgling sound in the back of his throat and used his snout to push Zoey`s wing out of the way, revealing her wound. Toothless turned his head to the side in confusion.

"It's a very long story." Zoey told him.

Toothless` ears went up as if he were going to say: "I`m listening"

Zoey sighed and in a flicker of light her skin disappeared, as if it was fog that had been blown away in the wind. Toothless` eyes widened, Zoey was an Atlantian automaton.

The Viking teens were packing up camp and preparing to head back to Berk with the information that Hiccup had acquired from Hydra. Snotlout stumbled over to Hiccup as he was taking down his tent. Fishlegs, Ruffnut and Tuffnut stood within earshot but made it look like they were having their own conversation. Snotlout told Hiccup everything that he`d told the others (minus Astrid) the previous night up to the point where he passed out. After it was all explained, there was a bit of hope back in Hiccup`s heart.

"What will cancel out the potions effect?" Hiccup asked Snotlout.

"Sea slugs, Astrid has to eat seven sea slugs." Snotlout replied as it was no big deal.

Hiccup raised an eyebrow, but eventually realized that he was right about Shirley. The guy was rotten to the core.

"So what now?" Hiccup asked.

"It's simple," Snotlout replied, "We head to Berk, submit the evidence to Stoick, find some sea slugs and end this thing once and for all."

Hiccup shook his head.

"Easier said than done."

"Ah, it's always like that." Snotlout replied. "Now come on lets go get your girlfriend back."