Chapter 5

Animal House Part 2

Village Plaza

The wind howled, and there was the occasional rumble of distant thunder in the ominously shadowed sky, accompanied by a brief flash of lightning from within the clouds. No one was out and about – the villagers were all heading to the Great Hall so that they could wait out the storm. There were no monsters or dragons in sight, either, since the beasts had booked it out of the village as soon as they felt the storm coming.

"Just as I feared," Stoick said grimly. He picked up a plank of wood and offered it to Gobber, who had joined him on their last round of the village. "We haven't had any time to fully stock the food storehouse. If this storm is as bad as we think it is, we're never going to survive."

"Not with this inventory," Gobber agreed, taking the wooden plank and using it to block the doors to one of the houses.

"We're going to need everything we can get from those chickens and yaks," added Stoick.

His comment prompted a snort from Gobber. "I'm not comfortable in puttin' our lives on the backs of a brainless bird an' a big woolly beast that sleeps in its own dung."

"Thankfully," Stoick said, cutting him off, "our fate isn't on their backs. It's on my son's."

The two of them completed their round of the village and decided that it would be safe to abandon it until the storm had run its course. Up the steps leading toward the Great Hall they went, where the last few Vikings were wheeling in provisions.

"Bring in everything you need!" hollered Stoick. "We don't know how long we're going to be hunkered down!"

With effort, he and Gobber began to help some of the stragglers push their wheelbarrows full of supplies up the stone steps and through the immense doors awaiting them. The last two Vikings to come were Mulch and Bucket – the former was tugging the latter up to the Great Hall in his own wheelbarrow. Bucket had his hands clamped to his head and was moaning lowly, clearly in great pain.

"How's Bucket?" Stoick asked of Mulch, gently.

"Look at 'im," the portly Viking sighed. "He usually loves a wheelbarrow ride."

All of a sudden, there was a rush of wind and a clattering sound as Batwings landed on his talons on the grassy hill near the staircase. Shivering, the Siren jumped up onto the side of the staircase and regarded the quartet of Vikings with worry.

"We're out of time," he reported. "We haven't had any success with the animals yet. I came here to ask what our next course of action should be."

Sadly, Stoick shook his head and replied, "For now, we'll have to wait. There's no way we'll be able to help them now. Gobber," he added, "you go with Mulch and gather the kids. Bring them back here and make sure that they're all safe. Batwings, you prepare to get the farm animals in the barn."

Mulch and Gobber both nodded understandingly. They both hobbled down the steps on their peg legs, with Batwings soaring ahead of them before wheeling off in a slightly different direction. It was to the farming lands he flew, while Gobber and Mulch walked off in the general direction of the Berk Monster Academy.

Suddenly, Spitelout appeared, herding two yaks toward the Great Hall. "I caught these two," he informed the other Vikings. "I figured we could start another herd with 'em."

"Yeh might wanna take another look, Spitelout," replied Gobber, walking by without even a glance.

Spitelout bent down and peered underneath the yaks, then stood up and said quickly, "Never mind, boys."

Berk Monster Academy

Back in the arena, it was chaos once again. The Duramboros had succeeded in scaring the flock of chickens. Hiccup had managed to catch two chickens, and Snotlout and Fishlegs had caught a few others, but the other Monster Riders were still trying to round up the rest of the birds while Astrid calmed the monsters down.

"You know what I'm learning from this?" complained Hiccup. "Chickens are, well, chicken."

Astrid snorted at his remark and tossed a steak to the Tigrex in order to get it to settle down. Its restless stomping and growling was making the sheep and yaks nervous.

"What if we showed them how much they have in common with the monsters?" asked Tuffnut all of a sudden.

Everyone stared at him, skeptical at his suggestion.

"What?" the male Thorston added, starting to doubt himself. "I always thought the Duramboros looked like a giant sheep."

"Actually, he might be on to something," mused Fishlegs. "It does share some of the same habits as sheep – grazing, using its horns in territorial fights…"

Arachne scuttled past him and led the gentle giant over to the sheep. Although the sheep were initially startled at the lumbering brute wyvern that stomped in their direction and tried to run away, Sightless blocked their escape and herded them forward with his wings. Reluctantly, the sheep faced the Duramboros, and began to calm down as they observed it chewing a large wad of grass, twigs, and cabbage in its mouth.

"See?" asked Hiccup, satisfied. "A plant-eater's a plant-eater, no matter how big and tough he is. Right, guys?"

Then the Tigrex, eager for more steak, lunged at the satchel Astrid had on her shoulder from which she had produced the meat. She hastily dove out of the way, and the Tigrex's jaws closed around the Duramboros' leg. The brute wyvern let out an earsplitting, bleating bellow of pain and swung its clubbed tail around like a mace, crashing it loudly against the floor and walls several times. The sheep panicked and scattered, too fast and in too many directions for Sightless to stop them again.

"Unless it has a Hammer for a tail," Hiccup finished bitterly.

The frantic bleating of the sheep made such a racket, the other animals took it as a signal to panic as well. Chickens, yaks, and sheep raced all around the arena in a frenzy of fear, while the Viking teens did their best to try and gather them again.

However, they had only just started to get the animals back under control when there was a gigantic crashing noise from behind Twinhorn's cage. This time, the door shifted significantly upon being hit.

"Wh-What's going on?!" squeaked Fishlegs, hiding behind Heatray.

The answer he got was another, much bigger crash – the sound of the door flying off of its hinges. The two halves hadn't even hit the ground yet when Twinhorn came barreling out, roaring madly at the top of her lungs. Everyone scrambled to get out of the way of the crazed Diablos, but the animals panicked again, dissolving into a chaos worse than any so far.

"T-Twinhorn!" cried Snaketail, her voice breaking.

"She's even worse than last time this happened," gasped Snotlout, crawling underneath Heatray's belly with Fishlegs.

"Guys, wait," Hiccup told them, pointing at Twinhorn as she crashed into the wall and stunned herself. "Look at her scales! They're pitch-black!"

Indeed, when the group took another look at Snaketail's monster companion, they could see the difference. Instead of having dirt-brown scales, they were deepest black with a subtle purple tint.

Hiccup couldn't help but wonder if her increased aggression and her new black coat were related somehow.

When Gobber and Mulch walked in, the noise of the gate opening alerted Twinhorn. With a huge bellow, she lunged forward at the startled Vikings, bowling them over as she rampaged out the door. And almost as if on cue, a harsh wind began to blow, and snow started falling from the cloud-covered sky.

"Everybody out!" shouted Mulch. "The storm's here!"

"An' what in Odin's name happened?!" demanded Gobber. "I had that beast caged up good!"

"I-I don't know what happened to Twinhorn," replied Hiccup, shakily. "But we can't leave, Gobber! We haven't made any progress with the animals!"

Gobber scooped a stray chicken up with his hook and replied, "Yer father wants everyone in the Great Hall, where it's safe!"

"What about Twinhorn?" protested Snaketail.

"We can't risk goin' after her," Mulch told her sadly. "By the time we catch up to her and cage her again, the island'll be knee-deep in snow!"

Desperate, Hiccup was still trying to reason with them. "Take the others, then. I need to stay here and keep working with the animals. The monsters still frighten them."

"Ya can't get eggs from a frozen chicken!" replied Gobber, not hearing any of it. "We need ta get the animals in the barn!"

But everyone had just gathered up the remaining animals, with the monsters' help, when Batwings suddenly flew through the open gate, gasping for breath.

"The barn's completely frozen over!" he yelled over the sound of the wind, which was rapidly increasing in strength. "There's no way we can get the animals in it without them freezing as well! And that's not the worst part – the rest of the farm animals have fled into the mountains!"

"Oh, for the love of Thor!" shouted Snotlout.

"As if we needed any more problems," sighed Arachne.

"So much fer the barn," grumbled Gobber.

Snaketail sighed and suggested, "Then we keep the animals in the Great Hall as well. It's the only safe place we have."

"Great," grumbled Mulch. "The animals and monsters under the same roof. This will not end up good."

"We don't have a choice," Hiccup said. "I don't like it any more than you do, but if we don't starve, we'll have animals to work with in the future."

"And anyway, the only monsters here on Berk are ours," added Fishlegs. "The rest seem to have fled Berk entirely when they felt the storm coming."

Hiccup spared a glance toward Batwings, who looked like he wanted to say something else. "What is it?" Hiccup asked.

"I think there's something out there in the storm," the Siren whispered with a shudder. "I could hear it as I flew here to warn you about the animals."

"Then the animals are in danger," Astrid decided. "We'll have to head through the mountains with the animals we have with us, and hope that we come across the others on our way."

Hiccup nodded. "Alright gang, grab your monsters – we're going to use the animals' fear of them to our advantage this time."

Berk Mountains

On the mountain path that Hiccup and the gang took, the wind and blinding snow lashed cruelly at them until every inch of exposed skin was stinging. It was difficult to see, and the ground was thick with snow that muffled their footsteps and made it very hard to walk. The animals huddled instinctively close together to protect themselves from the biting cold, and their fear of the monsters behind them herded them forward. The monsters were staying a respectable distance behind, so as not to startle the animals.

"Come on, come on, let's go!" urged Fishlegs, herding a stray sheep back toward its fellows. The other teens were keeping the animals together, as he was, or else staying with their monsters.

But as always, something went wrong.

A forked bolt of lightning suddenly flashed down from the sky, very bright against the darkness that the storm shrouded the land in, and struck a tree with a loud crash. The tree toppled and startled Blackhawk, who screeched and instinctively lashed out with her tail, whipping Snotsnarl across the face. Enraged, he reared up on his hind legs and emitted a roar that blasted across the landscape, throwing up clouds of snow and knocking Snotlout off his feet. The animals bellowed in terror and scattered all over the place.

"Don't worry! I've got this under control," groaned Snotlout, picking himself up out of the snow.

And just how under control he had it was confirmed a second later, when the yaks trampled him. He continuously cried out, "Ow! Ow! Ow! Ow! Okay, everything hurts…"

Chaos reigned once more as Snotsnarl continued to run rampant, the animals ran aimlessly in fear, and the Monster Riders scrambled to retrieve them. Fishlegs rapidly became dizzy as he tried to run after a trio of sheep, and he fell to the ground just in time for the sheep to run him over. Ruffnut jumped over him in pursuit of said sheep, but a chicken jumped into her face and caused her to slam into Snaketail.

Hiccup couldn't do anything but stare miserably as the animals disappeared into the blizzard-shrouded forest. He knew that there was only one choice he had to take if he wanted to get the animals back. He took one last look at the vanishing animals, then ran for Sightless.

"Where are you goin'?" asked Gobber, incredulously.

"After them," Hiccup replied seriously.

"It's impossible! You'll never get 'em all rounded up in this storm!" cried Gobber.

"With Sightless I can," said Hiccup. "We have to try. If we don't, we'll starve to death!"

He mounted the Gore Magala, and he spread his wings and jumped into the air, immediately flying through the wind-torn sky after the escaped farm animals.

"Astrid," muttered Gobber, "would yeh talk some sense into – oh no, not you too!"

Indeed, when he turned around, the Hofferson girl, as well as Snaketail, was already sprinting toward Blackhawk. In less than a second, they were up and flying.

"Astrid! Snaketail!" yelled the blacksmith. "Yer not goin' with – oh no yeh don't!"

Everywhere Gobber turned, the monster riders were already mounting their monsters and kicking off the ground, following Hiccup and Astrid after the animals.

Gobber's bellow echoed across the peaks and into the riders' ears, prompting them all to smile. "GET BACK HERE, ALL O' YEH!"

Almost as quickly as his shouts faded into the distance, the atmosphere began to darken. The overcast sky and snow combined to create a dark purple-black lack of light that made it almost impossible to see. Astrid urged Blackhawk to spit a fireball, and the resulting projectile lit up the area around them – nothing but trees and snow.

"You guys grab as many as you can!" Hiccup called back to the others. "We'll herd them back to the Great Hall!"

"Can we sw-swing by my house?" asked Fishlegs, shivering. "I'd like to grab my heavy coat!"

"You'd better suck it up or a coat will be the least of your worries!" Snaketail told him, raising a fist menacingly.

"Hey, check this out!" shouted Tuff as he flew beside his sister. He smacked himself in the face with a loud slapping sound and added, "It's so cold I can't feel my face!"

Ruff smirked, reached out from Queen's back, and whacked him as well.

"Didn't feel it!" taunted Tuff.

"That takes all the fun out of it!" Ruff groused, scowling.

"Why don't you two keep your tiny minds on the job?" suggested Batwings, as he and Mocktalk flew in between them.

Finally, they made it to the edge of the alpine forest and flew over the same cliff that Hiccup and Astrid had tumbled over a few days ago. They found themselves flying over a vast snowfield, which was dotted with small black specks. It took a while for the Monster Riders to identify them as the rest of the lost animals.

"There they are!" shouted Arachne, already urging Venomwing downwards.

"Let's get 'em!" agreed Batwings. As Mocktalk dove, he jumped off the Qurupeco's back and immediately shapeshifted. Fully transformed, the Siren then swooped down upon the animals alongside his monster friend.

"Yaks to the left!" called Snaketail. She and Astrid then went after them.

"Chickens!" added Snotlout, blazing past them and almost clipping Blackhawk's wing. "Hey, give me some space! I'm flying here!" he scolded them.

So busy was he that he hadn't noticed that Batwings and Mocktalk were already after some turkeys, which had originally escaped from the barn. They flashed past Snotlout, herding the plump birds away from the relative safety of a grove trees they had been frantically running toward, and into the open.

"What are you doing?" the Jorgenson boy demanded, jerking Snotsnarl's horns so that he would stay on course.

"Helping, you idiot!" retorted Batwings. "Mocktalk, mucus shot!"

Obediently, the Qurupeco opened his beak and spewed three blobs of green gunk that splattered across the snow, frightening the turkeys into staying still. As the flock of chickens caught up to the bigger birds, Batwings shot downwards and coiled around the entire flock, trapping them into one tight area.

"Mocktalk, you help me keep the chickens and turkeys warm," Batwings ordered. "Snotlout, you and Snotsnarl should go after those goats over there!" He pointed with his wing over to the grove, where some goats were indeed taking shelter.

Hiccup overheard the Siren as he circled around on Sightless, and noted that it was quite odd hearing his voice coming from such monstrous jaws.

"Let's go, Sightless," he ordered, and yanked hard on the Gore Magala's saddle. They soared rapidly toward Fishlegs, who was flying on Heatray after some sheep.

"Sheep!" the Ingerman called. "Hey sheep, this way! Baa, baa! Hey, I think its working!"

But he spoke too soon – failing to see the overturned tree in his path until the sheep raced under it, he and Heatray wound up jammed underneath it as Hiccup flew onwards.

"We got them!" came Astrid's cry, and she and Blackhawk sped after the fleeing flock in a blur of black-and-purple scales. The Yian Garuga fired a volley of tail spines on her command, which fell around the sheep and created a makeshift pen for them.

"Yes!" Snaketail exclaimed triumphantly – only for her and Astrid to be thrown completely off balance when Snotsnarl plunged past them from out of nowhere and crashed into the ground, scattering the spines and letting the sheep free. The Tigrex leapt off the ground again and flew in a dazed circle off towards the goats.

"Snotlout, what the Hel are you doing?!" yelled Astrid furiously. "You're all over the place!"

"You try herding goats with a monster that doesn't listen to you!" came his angry reply as he vanished into the blizzard.

Hiccup decided that he would go after the sheep, and urged Sightless to fly low over the flock. Each thrumming beat of the monster's cape-like wings spurred on the flock – but suddenly, a small group made a break for it, heading toward one of the mountains that rose up from the snowfield.

"Stray sheep!" he cried.

Arachne responded to his shout, and steered Venomwing over to help. The Gore Magala and Remobra rotated just enough so that their bellies skimmed each other in passing, then together they flew off toward the sheep.

However, they were too far away to help the woolly trio. They both saw the smallest one slip off the icy ledge it was clambering across and slide rapidly down the mountainside.

"No!" shrieked Arachne, her panic taking the place of action. She and Venomwing slowed down, unsure of what to do.

But Hiccup and Sightless sped up, diving down after the lamb. Just as it slid right off of a very high cliff with a terrified bleat, the Chief-to-be clicked his stirrup, changing the position of Sightless' splint and allowing them to put on a burst of speed.

The lamb was about to hit the ground when they arrived, and Sightless shot out his talons and made a fantastic catch inches away from solid earth. Hovering, he gently placed the little sheep on the ground, where it was hastily joined by the two larger sheep it was with.

"Good job, bud!" pronounced Hiccup, and they flew off while the sheep stared gratefully after them.

"Hiccup!" came the voice, and all of a sudden, Ruff and Tuff melted out of the driving snow in front of him. Their features were shrouded in shadow, and Hiccup suddenly realized how much worse the storm had gotten.

"I can't see a thing!" complained Ruffnut.

"And now we know there's something out there!" added Tuffnut, pointing into the distance.

Despite his claim, Hiccup could see nothing but snow. "Can you two give us some light?" he requested.

The twins gave their order to Queen and King. The Lunastra and Teostra simultaneously launched blasts of flame from their jaws that traveled far across the snowfield, giving Hiccup light to see by. He could see Snotlout herding the goats, Astrid and Snaketail going after the yaks, Batwings curled around the poultry… and then he saw something else, something that was only revealed when the fire bursts exploded with light in the distance before vanishing.

It was a dark, winged shape that soared unopposed through the storm, almost as if it was guiding the wind and snow to blow around it. The light from the fire briefly gleamed off of its metallic hide.

"Kushala Daora!" screamed Hiccup.

The legendary elder dragon emitted a hoarse screech and flew for him at top speed, hearing his voice and not liking it one bit. Like all elder dragons, the Daora was territorial and didn't like other monsters in its space when it flew. That was the reason it liked flying through storms, because there was usually no other monsters out and about.

"Watch out!" Hiccup yelled, and he and Sightless dodged the angry monster. The Daora wasn't one to give up, though, and carved a neat turn in the air for another go at them.

Then Arachne's cry somehow managed to ring out above the howling wind and roaring Daora, prompting Hiccup to momentarily take his focus away from his new adversary. Her urgent tone bore listening to.

"It was chasing some animals!" she screeched. "Look! Stray yaks, twelve o'clock!"

"We see them!" answered Tuff. "And they are huge!"

Without any prompting from Hiccup, who was forced to evade once more as the Kushala Daora flew past him with a shrill cry, the Thorston twins flew swiftly toward where the yaks stood. Queen and King extended their talons as they, surprisingly quickly, bore down on the animals, and successfully snagged them in their claws. Back they flew, with two hairy bundles dangling underneath them.

"We got the yaks!" crowed Ruff.

"Put us down!" the voice yelled at her in answer.

Surprised, the twins looked down and saw not yaks, but Vikings – Stoick was in King's grasp while Gobber was in Queen's. Obediently, the Lunastra and Teostra dropped them in unison, and the two men tumbled down into the snow below.

"Do I look like a yak ta you?!" Gobber yelled after them, standing on his feet and hand and shaking his hook at them. Beside him, a real yak snorted and walked carelessly away from him.

"Huh," the blacksmith mused. "I guess I do."

Hiccup tugged hard on Sightless' saddle, and they barrel-rolled away from a blast of shrieking wind and snow shot from the Daora's lungs. The blast impacted against the ground near Stoick and Gobber, throwing up a huge cloud of snow and freezing wind. When it settled, Hiccup landed and dismounted from Sightless, immediately heading toward the two adults.

"You shouldn't be out here, son!" Stoick yelled, shielding his face from the increasingly harsh wind.

"Haven't yeh noticed the big monster flyin' around this here blizzard?" added Gobber. His face and arms were red and inflamed with cold.

"Dad," Hiccup muttered shamefully, "I'm so sorry I let you down."

Shaking his head, his father replied, "It isn't your fault. Come on, we're taking you back."

"Wh-Which way?" stammered Arachne, slinking up beside Hiccup with her arms wrapped tightly around herself. The boy looked around upon her appearance, and saw that the rest of the Monster Riders were dismounting their monsters and gathering around.

"Follow our tracks," replied the Chief, pointing off into the distance.

In the short distance they could see, there was nothing but snow. No tracks in sight.

"So much fer that idea!" Gobber said, skeptically.

Above, the Kushala Daora shrieked, its loudest call yet. As one, the group looked up nervously, as if anticipating the sight of it plunging down from above – but they needn't have worried, as the metallic elder dragon was just circling around in the sky, wrapped in swirling wind and frozen water.

"Sir?" asked Fishlegs, timidly. "What do we do now?"

Hiccup saw Stoick's gaze soften at the sight of the Monster Riders. They were all trembling and twitching uncontrollably, their bodies' response to the deathly cold chill that nature had unleashed upon them. Their features were barely distinguishable in the darkness, but it was clear that they were all suffering dearly.

Even Batwings was there, in his humanoid form, sniffling miserably and with his wings wrapped around his body.

The appearance of the Daora must have frightened the chickens and turkeys away from him, Hiccup realized.

"Everyone," said Stoick softly, holding out his arms. "Gather round."

Obligingly, everyone came together in a tight huddle, trying to keep warm. Batwings sneezed uncontrollably, spraying Snotlout with the boy's namesake bodily fluid. He didn't protest one bit, as he was too busy pretending that he didn't notice the cold. The twins kept close together, while Astrid wrapped her arms around Hiccup. He unconsciously put an arm around hers… but he knew it was futile.

Sooner or later, they would all freeze to death.

Hiccup's eyes began to close involuntarily. Frost formed in his hair as he slowly became the first to succumb to the biting, frigid cold that seemed to soak into his bones and hold them in a grip of iron. His vision faded, and his eyelids sealed…

… But suddenly, they opened again, wide with astonishment. He saw what looked like an orange blob emerge from behind the twins and Snaketail – but it couldn't be! It was Snotsnarl, advancing on them until his body blocked the cold from reaching them. He spread out his wings protectively even as Sightless, Venomwing, Heatray, and all the other monsters gathered around the huddle of Vikings.

Simultaneously, they spread their wings and formed a unified circle, keeping the wind out and their riders' body heat in. Hiccup looked around in awe, and several pairs of kind, almost nurturing gazes stared back at him.

His heart, initially as cold as the rest of him, warmed significantly as it filled with hope.

"What are they doing?" an amazed Stoick wondered.

"They're protecting us," Hiccup replied, his voice gaining in strength.

"It's their natural instinct," Astrid added. The Haddock boy felt her shivers slowly begin to fade.

A sizzling sound suddenly came from Blackhawk's beak, and the inside of her mouth suddenly glowed bright orange. A single fireball shot out from her beak and exploded against the snow, immediately flaring up and causing a small flame to flicker in the center of the huddle. Heatray hissed loudly and fired a quick blast of lava, the "heat ray" for which he had been named.

Hesitantly, Batwings added his own fire to the rapidly-growing blaze. He was being so careful for a reason – Siren flames weren't very hot in comparison to those of other dragons, but they were almost invincible and incredibly hard to douse. Batwings obviously had no intention of accidentally setting one of his friends on fire, especially if his work couldn't be undone.

All around Hiccup, his friends were relaxing as the heat from the fire traveled upwards, dispelling the cold and enveloping them with its warmth. A gap in the circle of monsters, where wind was still rushing through, was suddenly closed by the Kushala Daora. It had seen the glow of the fire, and was willing to do its part to protect the humans if it meant sharing in its heat.

It's incredible, thought Hiccup. Even this fearsome, wild elder dragon is willing to drop everything and come to our aid. Monsters truly are something special, a treasure of nature.

Soon, though, Sightless looked over his shoulder distractedly. Feeling the burst of wind that came through when the Gore Magala moved, Hiccup looked over as well. Briefly, he wondered what the monster was staring at – and then he spotted the family of sheep from earlier, who were huddled together not far away from the monsters.

With a snort, Sightless bounded off through the snow toward the sheep. The adults ran off instantly, bleating with fright, but the lamb froze with fear and stayed put. It ducked its head, expecting to be attacked…

… And then Sightless gently curled his tail around it, pushing it forward. When the lamb raised its head again, it immediately saw the glow of the fire and the monsters' wings keeping out the wind. Sightless gestured with his head for the lamb to go on, letting out a comforting purr to soothe the lamb's fear.

It seemed to consider, and eventually started to move forward.

Sightless leapt back toward Hiccup and the others and moved into his original position, raising his wing slightly to allow the lamb a clear pathway into the huddle. It entered with a remarkable expression of wonder on its face, then settled down next to Hiccup with a happy bleat.

And, as if encouraged by the lamb's success, the other two sheep walked toward the monsters and Vikings, joining them by the warmth of the fire.

Then, emboldened as well, the rest of the animals began to appear. Amidst the obscuring snow, they melted out of the darkness, drawn by the heat and light. The fact that there were monsters nearby didn't startle or scare them. Yaks, sheep, chickens, turkeys, goats, and more pushed their way through the monsters' outstretched wings and settled down amongst their Viking owners. Obligingly, the monsters stepped back a few paces, stretching their wings as far as they would go so that the circle could widen.

Together, the animals, monsters, and humans shared the comforts of the fire. There was no fear this time.

Hiccup thought he could speak for everyone that they were stunned speechless at the animals' appearance, and their sudden lack of fear toward the monsters that had once terrorized them with their mere existence.

"Yer monsters are really somethin', Hiccup," remarked Gobber.

"Yeah, I know," the boy replied softly, slumping down against Sightless' leg. Astrid joined him, leaning her head on his shoulder comfortably. Feeling more relaxed than he ever had these past few days, Hiccup allowed his arm to reach out and wrap around her shoulder.

The Vikings were deeply tired, but the howling wind blending together with the noises from the animals and the cold that inevitably found its way around the monsters stopped them from getting any sleep. Arachne was complaining bitterly and Snotlout was yawning almost obnoxiously loudly. They almost desperately needed rest from the day's events

That was when a soothing melody curled into the air, rising ever louder until it was audible against the noise of the storm in the background. It was Batwings singing, using his most unique and legendary of all of his Siren abilities for the benefit of all – the fabled Song of the Siren, able to send anything into a hibernation-like sleep.

It didn't take long for all of them – the monsters, Vikings, and animals – to fall fast asleep, warm and cozy in the company of each other.

Even while asleep, the monsters managed to protect those that could not protect themselves.

Great Hall

The storm had blown itself out by morning, and the Kushala Daora had vanished alongside it. In fact, the only sign of the elder dragon Hiccup had seen was a silvery scale that it had left behind, which he tucked into his pocket.

Now, the Monster Riders and the animals were all on their way back to the village, after digging themselves out of the snowdrift that the storm had left on top of them. It was surprisingly warm this morning, even more so after the deathly cold that the storm had brought with it, as the sun was shining and the skies crystal clear, with nary a cloud to mar the endless yonder.

The animals rode on the monsters' backs and in their talons, completely and utterly unafraid. They didn't even seem to be nervous that they were dozens of feet above the ground. Hiccup could infer that this was because, like the Vikings, they now trusted the monsters completely.

They finally landed outside the Great Hall. Stoick jumped off of Heatray's back and pushed the doors to the Great Hall wide open. The interior was illuminated by fresh morning sunlight, but soon shadowed again by the monsters that pushed their way through at the heels of their riders. The cheers of the Vikings, which had been loud and joyous, soon fell to a low murmur.

"Oh dear," Mulch muttered. "Here come the monsters…"

But when Snotsnarl stomped through into the hall with a roar, an entire flock of sheep jumped off of his back and onto the ground. They bleated contentedly, as if happy to see their Viking masters again. Chickens and turkeys flapped clumsily onto the floor, off of the backs of Mocktalk and Blackhawk. Queen and King gently placed yaks down onto their feet.

"Well, would you look at that!" exclaimed Spitelout.

"Everyone!" shouted Hiccup all of a sudden. He had suddenly felt something heavy press down against his hand, the same hand that carried a particularly plump chicken. Raising the pure white, ovular object into the air, the Chief-to-be announced, "The chickens are laying eggs again!"

There was a fresh round of cheers from the assembled Vikings. They were saved!

"I was right, chickens do lay eggs!" said Bucket.

Gobber shut the doors to the Great Hall, allowing the people, monsters, and animals to mingle peacefully with one another once again. The sight brought a smile back to Hiccup's face.

But Snaketail was suddenly at his side, with an expression completely opposite to his. "Twinhorn is still out there," she worried. "What are we going to do about her? She's lost, alone, and still rampaging mindlessly."

"We'll figure something out," assured Hiccup. "Don't we always?"

The Grundenson bit her lip uncertainly, but nodded. Hiccup was right – it wasn't time to worry right now, it was time to rejoice.

And just outside the Great Hall, as the Berk Monster Riders finally found reason to relax and be merry with their adult Viking compatriots, the monsters and dragons of Berk began to return to their snow-covered home.

We made peace with the monsters when we saw that we could trust them. As it turns out, they actually have instincts to protect us. All of us.

Life on Berk just got a little warmer.

Finally, the end of the third episode! I had a bit of motivation issues while writing it, but it was worth it.

In the next chapter, I'll finally get to see just how dedicated I am to finishing this story. For the first time since the original "Legends are Born", I'm going to have to watch an episode and record it in writing – which contributed to the eventual discontinuation of that particular fanfic.

But don't worry. I have a feeling that this story is unique enough for me to continue until the end.

Up next: Terrible Twos