Voyagers Saga: Broken Nest

by Cydra

Exiled from their own universe, a group of travelers have crashed unto an unfamiliar Earth. Keeping their secret from the locals is going to be the least difficult of their problems, especially with their ship and crew scattered. Not to mention the secrets that this world itself possesses. Later chapters are rated T.

10. Cruel Mercy

Voyagers Saga

Broken Nest

Chapter 10: Cruel Mercy

The loss of the North Star had been a blow. Now the gang really DID have to use a longboat. To that end the gang were trying to get to know some of the neighbors, not wanting to run the risk that WARDEN couldn't get control of the base computers...for if that happened, they'd have to live their disguises.

While Berk may be situated in the vacant side of nowhere, travel by longboat made it possible to access more settled areas where the Vikings are known to visit whenever Trader Johan isn't readily available. While official contact with the New World had not yet happened and thus limited the food selection, there were at least things that can balance out a diet.

That and they could cheat and just make pizza back at the base if needed.

"Ok...we got the flour...the eggs..." muttered Matt, having wandered off. Starflame had, since the run in with the Red Death, been giving him the cold shoulder and also a fireball to the face. As such she was still over in Berk. "I suppose while we're here I can pick up something special for Starflame," said Matt, "But what do you get a grumpy dragoness?"

He looked around before jumping to see a young woman standing behind him. Once he was sure that his heart hadn't in fact burst out his chest and shot away screaming, he said "Smeg it, you gave me a shock, lady."

"My apologies," said the young woman, "I've just been drawn to your unique aura." Now that Matt had a good look at her, he could see she was quite beautiful, with long gold hair framing her face and a blue gown that demonstrated a well-shaped figure. "Can I interest you in some tea?" she asked.

Matt thought about it...for about half a second before he said "Sure, why not? Wait, has tea been invented yet?" adding the last part to himself.

"It's imported from the Orient," said the woman before walking off, "Come to my tent." Matt, who had never really paid much attention in history, filed it under 'believable excuse' and followed her.

The tent was made of purple material and when Matt walked inside, he could see various astrological symbols sewn on the cloth walls. A table and two chairs were set in the middle of the tent.

"Oh no, you're a palm reader, aren't you. I haven't got any gold to cross your palm with and I know what it'll say, that I'll be shot at some point this week...or mauled by a sea serpent again," said Matt, bitterly, turning to leave.

"My methods of divination are a lot more precise than looking at your palm," said the woman, "And I predict that they are of more significance than what's going to happen to you on a regular basis."

Matt paused at that, before growling to himself and turning. "Ok...name one. Earn that silver palm," he said sitting down and rudely propping his feet up.

Almost immediately, a pair of red cats came out from behind some cushions and started circling Matt's chair. "Ooooh...kitties. First pets I've seen that are smaller than me...except maybe the Terrors," said Matt, not taking the hint.

"My cats sense that you have a potentially hostile nature," said the woman, "But they know you are capable of much love."

"Lady...your cats are smarter then they look. But if that's some kinda proposition from you, I only have eyes for one girl," said Matt icily.

"Good," said the woman, "A lesser man would have tried to make an advance on me. Where is your beloved?"

"Not a clue. If I told you how I lost her, you'd laugh me out your yurt," said Matt sarcastically.

"Are you certain you don't have any clue?" asked the woman, "Not even a little hunch as to where she is?"

"I tried everything to find her," said Matt, gloomily before snapping, "And what business is it of yours?"

"I have a...gift for knowing when there are problems of love," said the woman, "Perhaps I might be able to divine where she is, if the Norns are lenient."

Matt's eyes narrowed. "Now I know this is a rip off...good day to you...OOOAH!" he said as one of the cats tripped him before the other sat on his back, surprisingly heavy for such a tiny kitty.

"My cats do not tolerate me being insulted very well. I suggest you control your temper. They can become very nasty when angry," said the woman.

"And heavy too." muttered Matt as the woman sat down smugly

"Now then, let us see if the Norns will listen to my request," said the woman.

"Who are the Norns?" asked Matt.

"The three mystic women who design the destiny of mortals and gods," said the woman, "You might know them as the Fates."

"Them...THEM!" said Matt, his eyes literally going red, the cats jumping off as they recognized a good show about to start. "That...scum has made my life...HELL!" snapped Matt, twitching.

"I'd be careful what you say," said the woman, "The Norns are known to strike mortals who curse them."

"They've preemptively cursed me then. Go on, ask them some of the things they've done to Matthew James Lynch, but get comfy...it's pretty long," said Matt manically.

The woman scattered her runestones on a board. The stones didn't stay in one position for long, continuously rolling around to spell new messages. "Oh my, I've never seen anything like this before," she said.

"It was unprovoked, I'd like to say." snapped Matt angrily, before getting up and yelling at the stones. "SEE? I'M ONTO YOU!"

"You and the Norns seem to have quite a history," said the woman.

"Of course we do. NOW GET OFF MY BACK, YOU SADISTIC OLD HAGS!" snapped Matt at the stones. Just then, a bolt of lightning shot through the tent's ceiling and struck Matt, causing him to land in a twitching heap. "Ok, I'm done venting now," he said.

With that, Matt got up and sat down opposite. "If you know those...persons...can you make them stop?" he asked, hope dripping from his voice.

"The Norns are difficult to negotiate with," said the woman before the stones stopped rolling, "It would seem that you have a considerable amount of guilt that needs to be levitated before they can consider removing their wrath."

"How much guilt could that possibly be?" asked Matt.

The woman picked up a round stone from the table and said, "Try to hold this." Matt took the ball and vanished through the floor like it was made of water. The woman winced before quickly snapping her fingers to remove the ball.

Matt climbed out of the hole in the ground and snapped, "That's it, lady! I'm sick of this stupid tent of telepathy and weirdness. You're gonna start giving real answers right now or I burn this place to the ground!"

"Take your best sho-" began the woman before a plasma ball exploded on her.

"There...now I'm leaving and I don't expect a bill." said Matt, mostly presuming he was just talking to the cats now. However, as Matt was heading for the tent flap, the two cats blocked his way and started hissing angrily. "Beat it. I'm not wasting plasma on you and cats taste terrible," snapped Matt.

One of the cats actually stopped hissing at that with a 'what the fuck?' expression in its eyes, before they both swelled to the size of tigers, Matt jumping back with a surprisingly girly scream. The two cats tackled Matt and held him to the ground, their raised hackles actually blazing with fire. "I warned you not to get my cats angry," said the woman's voice.

"Wait...you exploded," whimpered Matt.

"I think your skull is not so thick enough to realize you are not in the presence of mortals now," said the woman.

"Yes...mortals explode," whimpered Matt before saying "Nice kitties?"

The cats snarled, showing very large fangs. "I suggest you apologize. They are very unforgiving towards aggressors," said the woman.

"Erm...sorry I tried to blow up your boss?" Matt tried, smiling as nicely as he could. The cats growled before shrining down to their previous forms. But they still sat on his chest with looks that said 'pet us or we get nasty'.

Matt definitely got that message, stroking the top of their heads with nervous smiles. "Ok...who are you, lady? If you're another Shar-Khan, that would just make my day complete," he said.

"I am Freya," she said, pausing for Matt to understand who he was dealing with.

Matt blinked before he said "That's a nice name." causing Freya to stare a little.

"Really? You haven't heard of me?" she asked exasperated.

"Nope...never heard that name on someone with two legs. Knew an Avalarian called Freya, she baked mutton pies," said Matt.

"Freya, the Norse goddess of beauty, magic, and war?" asked Freya.

"Nope, got nothing...wait, you're a goddess? Ohshit...I blew up a goddess," said Matt, going pale as it hit home.

Freya sighed and said, "You really are dense. No wonder they said you needed help."

"Wait...the same Fates that turned me into a half dragon freak of nature, thrust me into hell after hell and caused my sister to be evil for several years want to help ME?" said Matt disbelieving.

"Not them, but some immortal friends of yours thought you may need some assistance with finding Kala. They understated how clueless you were," said Freya.

"Wait...does one of these guys wear a black suit and talk in a stop-starting sort of fashion?" said Matt, curiously.

"Oh, good, you have some skill at being able to guess after all," said Freya dryly.

"What's the deal? There is always a catch," said Matt, equally icily, the cats' heads going back and forth like they were watching tennis.

"As hard as you've tried, you have been unable to see Kala or hear her with your own eyes and ears," said Freya as she went to a chest and opened it, "So you must use another's eyes and ears." She pulled out a large cloak covered with leathery scales.

Matt literally jumped back a foot as he recognized the clasp. "Are you insane? I'm not wearing that. I know perfectly well what it does."

"Unlike the cloaks used by Circe, which she borrowed and never gave back, this one is untainted and will work as it is supposed to do," said Freya.

"What job's that?" said Matt in a distrusting voice

"To travel and understand this world as a true dragon would, not like one of you alien dragons from another world. It is not meant to control or imprison like Circe had ruined hers with," said Freya.

"Somehow...not trusting you completely. Like I said...what's the catch?" said Matt stubbornly.

"The catch being that you will not be able to remove the cloak or change back until you realize all that you should have learned. You will also be stripped of some of the more unique features of the Avalarians; controlling elemental energies, channeling magic, and the ability to speak human tongues."

Matt glared. "Where is she?" he said nastily, his eyes taking on another glow.

"Nearer than you ever would have guessed and she'll always remain hidden to you until you wear this cloak," said Freya, "Because I can assure you that you'll never be able to guess where she is without it."

"Try me. I could just blow a few shrines up till you tell me. I don't like being blackmailed into doing someone's little game. The last one who tired ended up on the end of my ion blade," growled Matt

Freya was immediately surrounded by a blinding golden aura as her voice echoed loudly, "Don't presume that you can threat me, mortal! I am a goddess and my power far outstrips yours! I do not offer this opportunity to find Kala on a mere whim. This is your last chance and if you do not take it, you will never find her even if you wandered this world for a hundred years!"

"I've threatened worse. I've threatened wraiths that turned people into undead corpses with a glance. I've faced the nightmares of the void…" snapped Matt...before he glared, sensing that probably one of the reasons he wouldn't find Kala solo now he knew Taleth had lied, would be due to some 'divine interference'. With that he snatched the cloak. "Fine, I'll play your little game," he snapped.

The aura around Freya disappeared and said, "Now that wasn't so hard, was it? Now, before you put it on, I suggest you inform at least some of your crew what will happen. Wouldn't do much good if you've burned your own bridges."

Mat however was already gone, and he appeared to have rather pettily set what he presumed was her cart outside on fire

Freya looked at the cart and said, "I feel sorry for whoever's cart he had just burned down. I suppose I'll have to leave something for them to buy a new one."

One of the cats looked up and asked in perfect Norse "Shouldn't we tell him we didn't have a cart?"

"No, I think his temper's been roused too much already," said Freya, "Besides, he'll feel like a fool for burning the wrong cart."

...

"Where have you been? Chloe nearly killed someone when they tried to buy her," snapped Techo as Matt walked into view, holding a bundle

"I've been with...really? Did someone record that because I'd have to see it to believe that," said Matt.

"Not really...look, they were gonna call the cops, we gotta go," said Techo before someone yelled "THERE HE IS!"

"As many a great man has once said: LEG IT!" yelled Matt before bolting.

...

Once they were back at base, Matt had sneaked away. There was no way they'd believe him about what had happened. Hell, even Matt was having trouble believing it. But he had to admit, he was desperate. They've searched for Kala every possible way they could with the limited technology they had. Even Megan's locater spells couldn't get a fix on her.

To that end, he'd sneaked up to the surface that night and was looking at the cloak. It definitely looked less evil then its Circe counterpart. And according to Freya, he'd only be wearing it until he had learned whatever it was he was supposed to have learned and that couldn't be too much, right?

"Ok...let's see...I left a note with Morph to give to them so they don't worry...so that's sorted," muttered Matt before throwing the cloak over his shoulders, clicking the clasp in place. Matt waited a while for the cloak to kick in but nothing seemed to happen. "Oh don't tell me she gave me a dud cloak," muttered Matt.

He was about to try and take it off when the clasp made an ominous 'click; and the embedded eye jewels began to glow. Matt immediately started having second thoughts and tried to get the clasp open. The cloak however seemed to have other ideas, Matt getting a horrible feeling of been squeezed by it as it seemed to tighten, as well as growing and begin to engulf him. Then he felt the cloak's hood start to wrap around his head. And he wasn't certain if the cloak had a hood before he put it on.

Things went dark as it covered him before his vision came back, Matt finding himself in the familiar quadruped stance of an Avalarian dragon, though he was certainly smaller than he had been. 'Ok, so I'm a dragon,' thought Matt, 'This isn't so bad. What was I so worried about?'

He stopped as his ears processed what he had said. He knew what he had said smegdammit...but that hadn't been what he'd heard. "What's wrong with my voice?" Matt asked but only heard a dragon's growl, even though it was understandable to him.

"Urgh...smeg it," he said before a bored voice said "Hey...what's your problem?"

Matt looked around before looking down at a Terrible Terror. "Are you talking to me?" he asked.

"Who else would I be talking to, genius?" said the Terrible Terror in a bored voice.

"Ok, so I can hear what other dragons are saying now," said Matt, "That's neat, but am I going to hear anything useful?"

"I could just bite the thunder wire under the snow and set off the humans' alarm," said the Terrible Terror casually.

Matt turned and snapped, "Hey, no damaging stuff at my base."

"Your base? You don't look like a human," said the Terrible Terror.

"Well I was just a few seconds ago, weren't you looking?" asked Matt.

"Nope...was asleep," said the Terrible Terror.

Matt gave an annoyed snort before saying, "I've got better things to do than talk to you. I need to find Kala."

"The weirdo dragon at that Viking village? Why'd you wanna talk to..." began the Terrible Terror before, from its perspective, everything turned small, dark, damp and smelling of fish. "JUST ASKING!" it screamed before Matt spat it out.

"Tell me exactly where she is or you'll be seeing the next site of my digestive tract tour," growled Matt.

"BERK! I HEARD SHE'S AT BERK!" screamed the Terrible Terror

"Good, now if you'll excuse me, I have a girlfriend to find," said Matt before turning and taking off.

As soon as Matt had flown off, the Terrible Terror glowed before turning into one of Freya's cats. "Urgh...dragon drool," it muttered.

...

As Matt was approaching Berk, he wondered how Kala could possibly be there. Surely she would have come to him by now. Maybe she had hit her head during the evacuation of the Bladestorm and got amnesia. But wouldn't he have noticed her?

"Ok, it's still night. I head for the academy, that's where she'll be," said Matt to himself, getting sight of said academy and swooping down. However, the gate was locked and Matt now lacked the thumbs necessary for removing it the easy way.

"Ah, smeg it," he muttered, concentrating on the lock and sighing as he remembered that Freya had said that his abilities would be crippled, helped as a nanite message appeared, informing him that hostile magic has disabled his abilities but that the nanites were already working on removing the problem and that they had managed to retain basic Avalarian abilities. "That's something, noisier then I'd like though," he said, spitting a plasma blast at the gates. Pieces of the gates were blasted off before they swung open. "That did it," said Matt before walking inside.

A couple of dragons were present, including Starflame that was staring in dumbfounded shock. "There's a latch you know," she said icily, in a voice that shot straight to Matt's memory and pulled out a file to wave in his mental face.

"That voice...no, it couldn't be..." he said in shock.

"Wait...I know that voice," said Starflame, adding "Matt? You finally bothered to use your translator?" a warning tone coming into her voice

"Kala? You were Starflame all along?" asked Matt, "Why didn't you tell me?"

"Because Night Furies and their fellow local strains can't SPEAK, DUMBASS!" she said, yelling the last part.

"Uh...well at least I've finally found you, right?" asked Matt nervously.

"Yes...after a MONTH...of being your personal ride...playing charades to get your attention. I all but drew an arrow and danced in front of it!" snapped Starflame, or Kala as Matt now realized to his mounting worry...mostly cause she looked ready to rip him a new one.

"Now Kala...let's not overreact," said Matt.

"I am not overreacting, THIS IS EXACTLY HOW I SHOULD BE REACTING!" roared Kala before spitting fireballs at Matt.

...

The kids and their dragons, along with half the town had been waked in quite well by the first explosion of Matt's entry into the academy. As it was, Hiccup and the others arrived to see a dragon being chased around the arena by a very angry looking Starflame

"What kind of dragon is that?" asked Tuffnut.

"Whatever it is, Starflame doesn't like it," said Ruffnut.

The chased dragon turned to look at them before seemingly slapping its snout with its paw...right before Starflame arrived and tackled him. The kids watched the two dragons roll around for a while. "Is it me, or does that dragon bear a resemblance to Matt in his dragon form?" asked Fishlegs.

The attacked dragon seemed to perk up at that, nodding urgently before Kala spoiled it by jumping up and down on his head, causing him to repeatedly faceplant. "I think Matt's form is bigger," said Astrid.

The dragons meanwhile were watching. "Kala...I think he's had enough," said Stormfly, noting with the wince that Kala's victim had stopped making noises other than 'squish'

"MIND YOUR OWN BUSINESS! HE HAD IT COMING!" yelled Kala before grabbing Matt by the tail and slamming him against the wall.

"Uncle...UNCLE!" screamed the other dragon in a familiar voice

"Does that voice sound familiar?" asked Barf.

"Kinda, it'd be more recognizable if he was screaming like a hatchling," said Belch.

At that point, Kala dealt a blow that caused Hookfang, Barf and Belch and Toothless to wince, earning the requested girly shriek.

"Yep, that's Matt alright," said Belch.

"No question," said Barf.

"Kala...please stop...you're killing me...literally," rasped Matt.

"Guys, I think we have to intervene," said Toothless.

"Ok, you go first," said Hookfang.

Hiccup had the same idea. "Starflame...you need to calm down. I think that dragon's had enough," he said carefully.

She only just roared at Hiccup before carrying on. "What's all this racket?" yelled Gobber as he walked in, "Can't a Viking get any rest around here?"

"I think Starflame's found an old enemy...like with the Whispering Death and Toothless," said Hiccup, backing up from the fight.

"I have just the thing," said Gobber cheerfully.

"Whatever it is, you better do it quick," said Astrid, "I think she's going for his throat."

Kala was indeed looking like she was ready to. "Now then, dear. Let's not eat someone we'll regret later. I taste horrible," gibbered Matt

Unfortunately, Kala's rage had pushed her beyond reasonable. "You abandoned me," she snarled, "You treated me like an animal. Now I am an animal." She opened her fang-filled mouth wide.

"KALA!" roared Matt before Kala's eyes crossed and she fell forward onto him, Gobber standing behind.

"And that's now ye deal with a rampaging dragon." he said.

Matt sighed with relief before noticing a club becoming rapidly larger. "Ah cr-" *bonk*

...

When Matt woke up again, it was morning and he was in a cell. One of the dragon cells in the arena to be precise. And his sense of smell could tell him that Kala was his next-door neighbor. "Kala?" he tried...from the opposite end of his cell...just in case.

"So you've woken up," said Kala's voice coldly.

"Yes...yes I have. Thank God for the nanites," said Matt, wincing as his vision told him what the nanites had been forced to heal overnight, it was a long list.

"Nanites aren't that great," said Kala, "If they were, they would have fixed me weeks ago."

"They can't fix encoding. All we need to do is get off this mudball," said Matt, mentally hoping this was a sign that Kala was forgiving him.

"Like you have anything that could leave this planet," said Kala, "I saw the North Star, it's scrap."

"We found an old pre-NSC battlecruiser. It'll be ready in a couple of weeks last time I asked Techo," said Matt.

"I don't exactly have much confidence in him," said Kala, "But there aren't too many people around here who can be relied on, is there?"

"All the nanite scanners exploded on the Bladestorm..." said Matt darkly.

"Was that the only way you'd have been able to tell who I was?" snapped Kala, "You've looked me in the eyes several times and all you saw was a flying steed who just happened to be too clingy."

"Your eyes weren't even the same color. I've been attacked several times since I got here. I've been busy trying to remain breathing. You've been living it up here," snapped Matt angrily.

"Oh sure, I've been very well treated as a pet," snapped Kala, "And what would have happened if you hadn't figured out who I was. Would you have left me here, thinking I was some simple dragon or would I have just become another mascot?"

Matt stopped at that. "I would have torn this planet apart to find you. I tried to atomize a goddess cause she withheld where you were," he said in a dangerously low voice.

"A goddess?" asked Kala.

"Yeah, Norse goddess of love and beauty," said Matt, "I could have probably gotten more exact information if she hadn't kept teasing me."

"So, you were allowing some flaxen-haired tart to tease you?" asked Kala in a stiff tone.

"Her hair was golden and it was only...er...I distinctly told her there was only one girl for me. Ask her if you don't believe me," said Matt.

"Ok...I'll pull a summoning spell OUT MY ARSE!" screamed Kala, causing dust to rain down.

"Hey, I'm getting the bad end of the deal too," said Matt, "I'm stuck in this form, I can barely use my Avalarian powers, and I can't talk."

"Oh, and that must have been for the last 4 hours. I wonder how bad that would have been after 4 weeks," said Kala sarcastically.

Something else had occurred to Matt that was filling him with mounting horror. The nanite scanners wouldn't have worked on Kala as she didn't have NSC nanites...Matt did...and if the marauders came looking for him like this...

"We have to leave...now," he said sternly.

"Sorry, these doors don't open easily on this side, particularly if you don't have thumbs," said Kala.

"Then I blow them down," said Matt nastily, turning to blast his door before a warning appeared. "Power depleted...nanites attempting to restore magi based abilities...thank you for your patience."

Matt started butting his head against the bars if for no other reason to alleviate his frustration. "I hope you at least had the common sense to tell somebody about this farfetched plan before you cut off your communication skills," said Kala.

"I gave Morph a letter to give to them," said Matt calmly, before his ears picked up another rhythmic clanking noise. He quickly deduced the source of the noise. "Oh, come on," said Matt over Kala's head banging, "I know Morph's an idiot, but he can't be that bad a messenger."

...

Techo and Wilson walked along behind Chloe. "What do you mean that he's gone?" she snapped.

"He's just not here," said Wilson, "Nobody's seen him since last night."

Dammit...hey, what are those two doing?" Chloe muttered, spotting Morph and Mac, messing with some kind of letter.

"Playing with paper and scissors apparently," said Techo, "Morph, you remember what we told you about playing with scissors, right?"

Morph turned to show that the scissors were stuck out of his ear. "Sorry, I got a headache, came out of nowhere. Look what we made. Matt gave me this paper for some reason. I think it was important," he said cheerfully, before Mac floated by, a paper pirate hat on his head "AMMA SPACE PIRATE!" he screamed before vanishing into an intercom

"Morph, can we see the paper?" asked Chloe. Morph nodded, holding up a string of Stitch outlines linking hands. "Never mind," said Chloe darkly

"You don't think that Matt told Morph where he was going, did you?" asked Wilson.

"Don't be silly," said Techo, "Matt wouldn't have trusted that info to a scatterbrain like him."

"Yeah, let's see if those spiderbots work as intended. I read their manual last night," sad Chloe, walking off and Techo saying "They have a manual?"

...

Since Starflame seemed to have calmed down, the kids had let both her and the new dragon out, though they were keeping them at opposite sides of the arena.

"Maybe not all the dragons stayed at that city," suggested Astrid staring at Matt closely who, Matt being unable to be a joker, licked her face without warning, chuckling.

"Well, I suppose we should figure out how to list him in the Book of Dragons," said Hiccup.

Matt, unheard except to the dragons muttered "Good luck with that."

Hiccup looked at the daggers that Starflame was glaring before he looked at Toothless. "Think you can keep them calm?" he asked. Toothless made a discouraged growl. "Well, try your best. We can't let anything bad happen to these two," said Hiccup.

Toothless nodded as the kids left, their dragons also remaining behind to keep some order. Toothless sighed and mentally counted, getting to three before Kala screamed "YOU'RE DEAD, LYNCH!"

"You can't kill me. You need to get off this planet and change back," said Matt, blowing his tongue at her.

Kala stopped before blurting out, "What if I don't want to leave?"

"You're not fooling me with that," said Matt, smugly "You couldn't possibly want to stay here like this."

"Why not? You left me in the lurch. The dragons here had my back. There's even a pretty handsome specimen of my new form right here," said Kala loftily, causing both Matt and Toothless to gibber a little.

Kala smirked. She wasn't sure if Matt would learn anything from his beating, especially he got those a lot. But this was definitely certain to stick. She also had to admit that Toothless was pretty handsome. She probably should have been worried about that last part, but she was having too much fun now.

Toothless however was sweating...impressive given that he was reptilian. "Erm...Kala? Maybe you need to calm down a little. You clearly don't know what you're saying," he said, spotting that it was Matt's turn to glare now, the glare aimed at him.

"So THAT'S what you've been doing...EH? SWEEPING MY BUSHI'BU OFF HER FEET?!" he said, one of his eyes nearly popping out from its bulging.

"Me? No, no, I haven't even gotten close to her," said Toothless desperately.

"EXACTLY WHAT I'D EXPECT YOU TO SAY! DIIIE, GIRLFRIEND STEALER!" screamed Matt, lunging clumsily.

Toothless quickly moved away from Matt. "Matt, calm down, you're not thinking straight," said Toothless.

"Yeah...yeah...this is crazy...you're being crazy...no you're not...get him...SHUT UP DRACONUS!" said Matt, apparently talking to himself.

Toothless however let out a sigh before looking to his side to see Kala, who was grinning like a loon. "Hi…" she said before glomping him.

"KALA! WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!" yelled Toothless.

"Hugging my mate, what else?" said Kala before licking him.

Matt had been staring at that before the remnant of his self-restraint let loose. "DIIIIIIIE!" he screamed, charging at Toothless until Stormfly, Hookfang, Barf, Belch and Meatlug all managed to hold him down...mostly. He was still slowly clawing his way forward, clearly with prolonged murder in mind.

"Ok, Kala, Matt's had enough teasing. GET OFF OF ME!" yelled Toothless.

"Who's teasing handsome?" said Kala before something clicked as Matt howled again and doubled his efforts to deliver his package of pain. "Wait...what's going...PERVERT!" she screamed, clonking Toothless and stalking off.

"What did I do?" whined Toothless.

Matt had calmed down a little now that Kala was further away. "Explain or suffer," he said darkly once the other dragons had gotten off him, though he hadn't moved.

"I swear I didn't do anything," moaned Toothless, "You two just went crazy."

"Fine, but if you try to take advantage of her, I'll eat you," said Matt, adding the last part cheerfully.

"That was never in my thoughts," said Toothless quickly.

"Good. I'm nastier then Matt, believe me he wants us to eat you," said 'Matt' before twitching. "Fine..." he said darkly, before heading off.

...

"Definitely not in the book." said Hiccup, closing the book of dragons with a final snapping noise.

"A new dragon species, what should we call it?" asked Fishlegs.

Sadly before anyone could suggest anything, one of Matt's little metal spiders landed on the book. "BLARRG!" it shrieked at them, hopping up and down.

The kids jumped back but quickly calmed down once they saw what it was. "It's just one of the metal spiders," said Hiccup, "What do you want? We're trying to document a new dragon."

The spiderbot got into a stable position before a beam of light shot out its optics, causing what appeared to be Chloe to appear, though her legs were missing. "Finally, been trying to...you're not my brother," she said.

"Chloe, is that you?" asked Snotlout, poking his finger through her.

"Stop that, and yes it is. Look, has my brother turned up at all? We just got the base's nanoscanners working and it says he's there...but the thing's malfunctioning, it also says he isn't there," said Chloe.

"We haven't seen him," said Hiccup, "Just a new dragon that looks somewhat like him."

"New dragon?" said Chloe suddenly.

"It looks a bit like Matt, but smaller and it can't talk," said Fishlegs.

"Oh no...did it happen to have a weird clasp on its chest?" said Chloe, facepalming.

"A weird clasp?" asked Astrid, "Like what Hiccup had on him when Circe made him wear that cloak?"

"Yeah, he was acting weird when he got back from the trading post and he'd got his hands on some kinda blanket," said Chloe.

Hiccup turned to the others and asked, "Anyone notice any markings on that dragon's chest?"

The others shook their heads, Chloe glaring. "We're coming to you. I'm gonna check this newbie personally...and if it's my brother, I'm going to turn him into a handbag," she snapped, the connection vanishing.

"So, I guess we're not putting it into the Book of Dragons," said Fishlegs.

...

Sadly, the page that had mentioned how using the spiderbots for comm units rendered any secure channels useless had also been a casualty of Mac and Morph's paper making. Of course, someone had to be listening...like an imperial drone.

...

"Oh, cheer up, OmegaMorph. Make a snowman or something," taunted Anton, the duo walking through the combined Marauder/empire camp.

"I don't make, I destroy," growled OmegaMorph.

"Then make a snowman then destroy it...or do I have to turn up your behavior modifier," said Anton nastily before they stopped, a drone having come up.

"Commanders...a communication has been detected. Rebel forces are sending a team to a village 98 miles due west," it said.

"Finally, I was wondering when they'd show themselves," said OmegaMorph.

"There is more...two nanomatches have been located...a closer scan will be required for ID but two of their main number are vulnerable," said the drone calmly.

"I wonder which two those could be?" muttered Anton.

"Let's go find out...give me a squad and I'll go fetch them," said OmegaMorph with a smirk.

"Why not? It'll give me some time away from you," said Anton.

"Finally...a little slaughter...slaught..." began OmegaMorph, twitching as he glowed red, Anton grinning "Like I'm letting you loose without a leash," he said.

OmegaMorph growled and said, "No fair."

"Tough, that island's full of timeline specifics...and some the boss may want alive, take a list," said Anton, tossing a PADD over.

OmegaMorph snarled and muttered, "I never get to have my kind of fun anymore."

Anton glared. "Your kind of 'fun' would have a mountain of skulls a mile high and you eating nachos at the top. No unnecessary killing or infections," he snapped.

OmegaMorph groaned and grumbled, "Why did I have to come to this stupid planet?"

"Because the emperor wants to see how you do at live capture," said Anton calmly.

...

Since the naming of the new dragon was gonna be put on hold, Snotlout decided he and Hookfang can do something more exciting, like scaring seagulls at the docks. "Nice one, Hookfang," grinned Snotlout as the seagulls were sent scattering again.

Just then, Hookfang sniffed something and backed up. "What? What are you doing?" asked Snotlout. He looked up to see some white things dropping down from the seagulls. "Oh no," he said before quickly running away.

The running stopped when the droppings appeared to stop in midair. "Great...Changewings," muttered Snotlout, "Wait a second, what would a Changewing be doing here?" Hookfang was growling at the floating droppings.

A clink at Snotlout's feet got his attention, a small orb at his feet with a red light that was flashing faster and faster with a rising beep. "That doesn't look good," said Snotlout, backing away.

It wasn't, the orb exploding soundlessly with a bright white flash, causing dragon and rider to crumple into snoring heaps. A second later a half dozen droids and OmegaMorph landed on the dock. "Too easy...shoot em," he said.

"These are timeline specifics, killing them is forbidden," said one of the droids.

"Aw...dammit Anton," muttered OmegaMorph, checking his PADD and doubly sighing as he realized the kid and his dragon weren't listed. "I never get any fun," he complained.

"Nanite signature detected," said one of the droids, "Scanning for source..."

...

Chloe jumped off onto the beach, the gang having decided to not use the main dock...mostly cause of the nano-scanner they'd brought. The nano-scanner was something they found in the old cruiser. It was pretty outdated, only able to detect nanites from a short range. But Techo had managed to get it working again. It was also far too large to hide meaning the gang was planning to sneak in...a plan which went out the window as an empire transport flew overhead, shimmering into nothing as its cloak vanished.

"Oh, this could not happen at a more inopportune time," groaned Chloe.

"We gotta go...NOW!" snapped Chris.

...

The group ran down the ramp intro the arena to see the kids and their dragons out cold...though Hiccup, Starflame and whatever new dragon they'd come to check were already gone, as evidenced by a fading nanite signal. "Kids...Techo...wake em up" said Chloe.

Techo checked them and said, "Basic sleep grenade, meant to put everyone within a mile radius to sleep. But not an unwakeable sleep. Chloe, if you can provide a shock..." Chloe glared, a cloud appearing before several well aimed lightning bolts...woke everyone. Though they might have trouble sitting for a few minutes

Astrid was first up, clearly a morning person. "Urgh...what happened? The last thing I remember was a flash of light..." she groaned.

"Someone hit the town with a kind of sleep spell," said Chris, not having the time or patience to explain the scientific method that actually happened.

"Wait...where's Hiccup? He was right there," Astrid said, realizing who was missing from the picture. The kids, who were all wide awake by now, noticed the missing people...and dragons. "Oh no," said Astrid faintly.

"Look, we'll handle these guys. They are light years out of your league," said Chris.

"They took Hiccup and Toothless, we're not going to let them get away with that," said Astrid sternly.

"Yes, but these people will KILL you, easily I might add. Let us handle this," said Techo.

"You can't stop us from coming," said Astrid.

"We can if we leave someone to keep you from following us," said Chloe.

"Like who?" demanded Ruffnut, Chloe smirking and stepping aside to let something rise out of her shadow.

"Me for a start," said NegaMorph casually.

"You're leaving your demon behind?" asked Snotlout.

"I am not a demon!" snapped NegaMorph.

"He's not a demon, he's a crime against nature," said Techo.

NegaMorph nodded. "Exactly...wait a minute," he said, pausing as he processed what Techo had said.

"What makes you think we can't just give him the slip?" said Tuffnut.

"NegaMorph...demonstrate please," said Chloe.

NegaMorph aimed his hand-mouth and fired several fangs right in front of Tuffnut. A few eyebeams to his left made him jump back. "And for those who are particularly hard to manage..." said NegaMorph before stretching out his arm, grabbing Tuffnut by the pack of his pants, and lifting him high up.

Tuffnut nodded slowly, NegaMorph dropping him. "Have fun kids. I'll make sure they're in bed by 8," he taunted.

"Don't push it," warned Chloe before she and the other mercs headed off.

NegaMorph grinned at that, before looking at the angry kids and their dragons and he realized what he'd just walked into. "Oh crap..." he muttered.

...

The last thing Matt remembered was a bright flash. And he had a feeling that when he opened his eyes, he won't be where he was last. One eye opening later and he muttered, "I knew it." looking at the row of energy bars in front of him. Matt got up and stretched before saying, "Ok, which would-be kidnapping am I beating up this week?"

"Ah, you're awake. Don't bother to speak. Scanners say you can't at the moment," said a familiar voice, Anton strolling into view on the other side of the bars.

Typically Matt would have said something sharp and witty, but because of the aforementioned language barrier, he just growled angrily.

"Witty, Mr. Lynch, very witty. You'll be happy to know that your nanites are overwhelming whatever happened to you. You'll be talking in a day at least. It means you'll be able to scream when I get to work on you. It's not every day someone gets two chances to break an Atlantean mental wall," said Anton with a smirk.

Matt snarled and spat a fireball at Anton. Anton just laughed as the fireball was stopped by the bars. "Well...it's all down to your sister who gets the treatment," he laughed, walking off.

As it was, Toothless was woken up by the crash as Matt tried to headbutt his way through the wall in sheer rage. "Not the eel...where are we?" he asked before jumping as a dent appeared in one of his walls.

"We've been abducted by aliens," said Kala dryly.

"Is Matt trying to headbutt his way into the cell? You and me aren't even in the same cell," asked Toothless, wincing as Matt screamed "PROVE IT!"

"Ok..." said Toothless before tapping on the wall to his right. "See? Solid metal, not touching her," said Toothless.

A bigger dent appeared at that "STOP TOUCHING!" before the crashing stopped and he said "Ok...I'm calm...and we're all in deep, deep crap."

"Why exactly is that?" asked Toothless.

"We've been caught by people who are gonna either dissect us or brainwash us into living weapons then repeatedly clone us into an army of pure evil," said Matt promptly in one breath.

"Uh..." started Toothless.

"Means they're gonna kill us and takes apart to see how we work and make numerous copies of us," said Kala.

"And brainwash us...don't forget that part," added Matt.

"I didn't. Toothless already knows the definition of 'brainwash'," said Kala.

Toothless shuddered...a race of Red Deaths. "What does that...I can smell Hiccup," he said, pausing before saying the last part urgently

"They probably took him for the same reason that Alvin's been trying to," said Kala.

"Who?" asked Matt.

"Oh right, you haven't been able to hear what we dragons are talking about," said Kala in a deadpan tone.

"Don't bring that up again," snapped Matt.

Kala sighed "Alvin's a leader of some outcast Vikings that keeps trying to kidnap my dearest," she said, slipping back into the rose clouds.

"Dearest? I'M YOUR DEAREST, YOU BACKSTABBER!" yelled Matt.

"Nonsense...you're not even a Night Fury," said Kala, Matt feeling a chill up his spine. She was encoding pretty fast.

"Kala, I'll reprimand you for your unfaithfulness later. Right now, we need to get out of here," said Matt, "Fortunately, my multipurpose cyberarm should have something that'll be able to break us out." However, when he looked down at where his cyberarm should be, all he could see was a dragon's foreleg. Toothless, Kala and every marauder on guard abound the brig jumped practically out their skins at the agonized shriek. After a bit, Matt said, "Well, the good news is that I have my real arm back, which is kinda nice. The bad news is that we've got no means of escaping."

"What about Hiccup?" asked Toothless.

Matt simply said darkly, "Trust me, they'll be looking after him."

…

While Matt was busy getting over his latest attack of envy/psychotic breakdown, Hiccup had been placed near one of the ships, Anton deciding that, in case of Lynch related mess ups they'd have time to leave with at least something to show for it. Alicia and some of her men had been given the job of 'guarding', something that Alicia wasn't happy about, resulting in her deciding to spread that misery around a little.

"You have any idea how much trouble you're in right now?" asked Alicia.

"Considering I'm being held captive by pirates from another world, I suppose that's pretty big trouble," said Hiccup.

Alicia glared at that. "Pirate? I'm the people sent AFTER pirates...like your new friends," she said sweetly.

"From what I know about pirates, you act more like them than Matt and his friends," said Hiccup.

"Then you don't know then very well, do you?" said Alicia with a smirk.

"Well, as much as I'm able to understand," admitted Hiccup.

"Then you don't know how many people Mr. Lynch and his little band have killed in their career." said Alicia.

"I'm...betting they were ruthless villains like you," said Hiccup.

Alicia just laughed before saying, "They were just using you...that female black dragon? The captain already knew it."

"What are you talking about?" asked Hiccup.

Alicia grinned at her fellow marauders who returned it. "He doesn't know," she taunted.

"Oh, I get it, it's the old 'torment me with stuff I don't know' thing," said Hiccup, "You really think you'll get any information from me like that?"

"Well...we do have other ways," said Alicia, her smirk turning colder as she played with her energy dagger.

"Uh, wait, don't you want me alive?" asked Hiccup.

"Maybe...but they didn't say anything about intact." said Alicia.

"We can make his legs match for a start," said another marauder.

"A lot easier to keep prisoners if they can't run away," said another.

Hiccup paled at that, backing up before a black claw went through the back of the marauder that suggested it and OmegaMorph said darkly "Wrong, the orders were alive and unharmed. Is anyone else having trouble understanding?" tossing the dead marauder down.

If the other marauders were unnerved by their crewmember's death, they didn't show it. "We're just making sure this kid doesn't try anything," said Alicia.

"By giving him a heart attack?" said OmegaMorph, not believing a word.

"Aren't you the one always espousing the usefulness of ruling through fear?" pointed out Alicia.

"True...but he's more useful thinking straight," said OmegaMorph.

"Fine, it's not like this primitive could escape even if he was thinking straight," said Alicia.

"As my predecessor would say; never underestimate your prisoner," said OmegaMorph.

...

Chloe glared. "What do you mean you can't find him?" she yelled at the gang

"Hey, our long range scanners weren't at optimal efficiency when we first landed," said Chip, "And since we're relying on the cruiser's old systems, they're not much improved."

"Can the cruiser fly?" said Chloe darkly.

"Even if it weren't still stuck in the ice, not yet," said Chip.

Chloe's eyes narrowed before a trooper ran up, "Ma'am, we got a communication. It's being broadcast wideband. It's asking for you."

"Who is it?" asked Chloe.

"It's...it's Anton, Ma'am," said the trooper nervously.

Chloe growled and said, "Something tells me he's not calling to see how we're doing."

...

"General Silvia, it's a pleasure," taunted Anton on the video screen.

"It's Miss Lynch to you," said Chloe, "And it's never a pleasure to see you except when I need to vent some anger."

"That's good...that's good. I seem to have found a couple of lost souls of your dear brother and the failed test subject he's taken a shine to," said Anton casually.

"Wait, you found Kala?" asked Chloe in disbelief.

"You didn't? I found her the minute OmegaMorph scooped her up by accident. I can spot a Shar-Khan, even an artificial one, across a crowded room," said Anton.

"I'm assuming you aren't calling just to rub it in our faces," said Chloe.

"Nope, I have a problem. You see, when Taleth attached me to the empire to keep an eye on it I was assigned to break one of the emperor's prisoners. After some fun times I did what psykers across the multiverse have failed to do: broke an Atlantean's mental will and General Angela Silvia was born," said Anton, grinning as Chloe blanched as repressed memories...mostly of pain came up before he continued.

"But then the ungrateful worm had the cheek to remember things and absconded from the empire because of the misplaced honor of a black blob. Now that guy's got a choice: he can use Silvia's brother for the replacement...or Silvia can willingly surrender and know her brother's being released along with his pet mongrel," he said the grin becoming predatory.

"Am I'm guessing the local boy and his dragon are not for bargaining," said Chloe sternly.

"That depends how cooperative you are. I write the reports and the emperor doesn't believe anything OmegaMorph says out of principle," said Anton

"And what about the rest of my crew?" asked Chloe.

"Sadly they will have escaped," said Anton, a voice in the background complaining loudly in tantalog.

"Send us a place to rendezvous. We'll haggle in person," said Chloe.

"Doesn't work like that. You agree or the deal expires as soon as I hang up," said Anton gleefully.

Chloe growled and said, "Fine, but this only because I care about my brother, his girlfriend, and the kids and dragons here."

"Fine...coordinates being sent to you now. You have 2 hours. Come along...or don't, but try anything and I'll blow your brother's brains out," said Anton, the link going dead.

"Of course, you have a plan to spring those guys and avoid returning to the Empire, right?" asked Chris.

Chloe remained silent before saying, "Get a team together."

"Great, how shall we take them down?" asked Chris.

"We don't," said Chloe darkly.

"What?" asked Chris disbelievingly.

"I'm not risking Matt. He's serious about everything he said. He'll tear my bother apart if I'm lucky," said Chloe gloomily.

"Chloe, we can't just hand you over," said Chris aghast, "You mean too much to...us."

"No. I will not let that monster turn my brother into...what I was," said Chloe spinning angrily on Chris.

"There has to be another way," said Chris.

"There isn't...not one that won't potentially end with a dead brother," said Chloe.

"Can't we at least try?" asked Chris.

"No...I won't risk my brother." snapped Chloe, pushing Chris back

Chris watched Chloe stomp out before muttering, "And I won't risk you." He got on his comm for the one being he knew of who was devious and sneaky enough to figure out how to get Matt and Chloe out of this deal.

...

"Ok, let me get this straight; you want me to go behind Chloe's back, mess up this meeting, take on my evil twin, AND rescue Matt, Kala, Toothless and Hiccup?" said NegaMorph in a bored voice.

"You're our best chance at that," said Chris.

NegaMorph sighed and said, "Well, I can do three out those four things, but not alone. I'm gonna need backup."

"You have a gang of Vikings and now the information to motivate them...do the math," said Chris in a bored voice.

"Hmm...yes, I might be able to do it. Of course, success would be more likely if you can arrange some backup, a few guys that the Empire would never expect," said NegaMorph.

"Not a chance. We're all going with Chloe. Anyway, you've acted alone before," said Chris.

"Fine, but you guys better be ready to fight and run," said NegaMorph, "I can get Matt and his buddies out of there, but you're gonna have to handle the Empire forces."

"Fine, just be careful, OmegaMorph's there," said Chris, the comm going dead.

NegaMorph groaned before turning around and said, "Kids, we've got a little project to work on."

"How did you know we were listening?" said Astrid, the kids coming out of their various hiding places.

"With great ease," said NegaMorph simply.

"Then what are we waiting for?" asked Fishlegs, "Aren't we gonna go rescue them?"

"Not without a plan. This has no room for mess-ups. There are too many lives on the line. Ok, first thing to remember; OmegaMorph is, in terms of melee fighting, a living blender. If you get close to him and try to hit him with an axe, you will be sent home in a bucket," said NegaMorph simply, making a stick man animation show said effects with some shadows.

"Second thing to remember, they'll have guns, very effective ranged weapons. "You stay in place for too long, you'll be full of holes. For example...there's this gentleman." said NegaMorph, a shadow duplicate of an assault droid appearing. Once he was sure he had their attention, he added "It also shoots lasers...and missiles...and can crush rock or say, someone's head. Aim for the glowing red door and it's blind as a bat...and also dead. Me and Silvia never bothered to report that problem because we thought it was awesome to see a robot head fly 30 feet straight up."

"So how are we going to break Hiccup and the others out?" asked Astrid.

"That'll be my job," said NegaMorph, "You guys are to assault the guys outside, make it look like you're trying to figure out which bunker has Hiccup in it?

"How..." began Fishlegs only for NegaMorph to snap "YOU HAVE FLYING FLAMETHROWERS! Matt's proven time and again how effective that strategy is. In my experience, the element of surprise can overcome even the most prepared troops. But surprise can only last so long as you're unpredictable. If you keep them from figuring out how to attack you, you'll be able to beat before they catch on."

The kids nodded, a little intimidated by the droid. "That's a basic mech, if we're really unlucky..." began NegaMorph before realizing that he was losing his audience a little

"Can we go now?" asked Tuffnut.

"Not yet. If you guys fly, we'll be there aboouuut...4 days too late knowing the damn empire. So we're taking my way," said NegaMorph, grinning evilly.

"Your way? What do you mean your way?" asked Astrid.

"I just hope you haven't eaten." said NegaMorph, his eyes glowing purple before everyone fell into their shadows, the dragons outside doing the same. He followed after and took the lead, moving the group forward at the speed of darkness.

The group was spat out on a plateau, a glow in a distance showing where the basecamp of the empire and the marauders were. "I love a good shadow warp..." said NegaMorph happily before he noticed the ill and angry expressions. "What?" The dragons were charging up their breath attacks while the kids pulled out their melee weapons. "Hey, hey, not yet, we need to find the best way to...uh oh," said NegaMorph as he realized who they were about to tenderize.

...

Matt sighed, imagining that Kala was giving Toothless more heart eyes. "Way to fuck things up, Matt," he muttered, looking at his reflection where a red eyed version of him nodded.

"Yup...you did," said Draconus simply.

Matt glared at his reflection and said, "I'm not in the mood for criticism, especially from you."

"Oh, you should be. I couldn't have done better myself. Hey, maybe they'll let you be the godfather," said Draconus, laughing

Matt growled, "Don't you have anything constructive to say?"

"Nope...except that unless you want your grandkids to be hatched, then you should get off your arse and win her back, dumbass," snapped Draconus.

"In case you've overlooked this part, we're in a cage without any means of getting out," snapped Matt.

"When has that stopped us? Look down, does the ground look like metal?" pointed out Draconus.

Matt glanced downwards and saw not metal, but hardened earth and rock. "Wait, we weren't on a ship this whole time?" he said, feeling very chagrined.

"Obviously. I doubt Omega and his cronies came in a warship. They don't wanna piss of their new frenemies, the NSC," taunted Draconus.

"Alright, then I'm digging right out of here," said Matt before raking his claws about the ground and ended wincing as he felt them bent the wrong way.

Draconus winced as well. "Try blasting the rocks first...and maybe you should tell your girlfriend to tag along too," he said.

"Right...ow," muttered Matt before yelling, "Guys, we're still on the ground. There's just dirt and rock under us that we can dig out."

"Do I look like a Boulder class?" protested Toothless.

"Would you rather look like a leather chair? We just blast the rock and then we dig like it's going out of fashion," Matt said, spitting a plasma bolt into the ground and then being glad he didn't have eyebrows at that moment as the backlash washed back.

"Wait, if there isn't a floor, doesn't that mean we could lift the cage?" asked Kala.

"It probably weights about...300 tons and is probably sealed down," said Matt.

"Ok, just checking we weren't overlooking the obvious more than we have been," said Kala, an edge getting into her voice again.

"Just...blast from a distance," said Matt, coughing a smoke ring out.

After about a minute, Toothless said, "This isn't working. I told you we're not Boulder class dragons. I'm barely getting anywhere."

"Same here," said Kala.

"Oh for the love of smeg!" snapped Matt, digging down into the ground. As he dug down, he grumbled, "Gotta do all the work, spring my unfaithful girlfriend and the guy she's trying to snog, next time I see Freya I'm cutting all her hair off."

After a minute, he realized he was hearing words, a message saying "Verbal abilities restored." "Finally." he snapped, digging up...and having half a dozen guns aimed at him. He'd dug up into a marauder tent. "This isn't Disneyland...sorry," he said, diving back down. After about a second of stunned surprise, the troopers began firing down the hole and the ground around it.

OmegaMorph and Anton ran in a second later. "If that was another of those damn worm dragon things," snapped OmegaMorph.

"Unless they've taught themselves to talk, I don't think so," said a trooper.

"WHAT? Guard, Check the cells, now!" snapped Anton.

OmegaMorph walked over to the hole and said, "Looks like I've got a little digging to do."

"Remember, ALIVE!" snapped Anton, getting angrier as the guards reported an empty cell where a certain half psychotic Shar-Khan should have been. OmegaMorph growled before flowing like black water into the hole.

Anton sighed before a droid hovered up. "Sir...shuttle approaching," causing Anton to stop...of all the luck. A hostage exchange and the hostage was on the loose. Chloe just might be soft enough to hand herself over for Kala, but Anton had a feeling it wouldn't be as sincere as if her brother's life was on the line. Still, Anton knew Chloe wouldn't risk that kid getting shot.

...

Hiccup had studied his cell for any points that he could use to escape but it seemed like the best chance was sneaking a key from the guard. But that won't be easy unless they are distracted. Several running footsteps were heard outside, his 'babysitter' listening to his communicator with a frown.

"We've got a lizard digging around here," said the guard after a bit.

"Those worm things again?" asked his partner.

"Lynch apparently," said the guard.

Hiccup stopped at that as the partner said in surprise "Avalarians can dig?"

"Apparently." said the first guard before he noticed Hiccup watching, "Hey, stop eavesdropping."

"Oh, well, I just thought it might help that when dragons tunnel, they typically go to where there's fresh water," said Hiccup.

"What?" said one of the guards, the other getting his com out "Hey, Danvers, do a scan for springs under the ground. Get the blob to send some gun drones to where you find em."

"You might wanna hurry," said Hiccup, "Matt can dig pretty fast if he's properly motivated. Like when Morph buried some of his weapons to play 'buried treasure'."

"Shit, we'd better go help," said one of the troopers.

"What about him?" asked the guard.

"Who cares? Not like he can get out on his own anyways," said the trooper.

"Yeah, where's he gonna run?" laughed the other guard.

"Lynch is the bigger priority," said one of the more serious troopers, "Anton will feed us to the emperor's monster if we don't get him back."

Hiccup waited till they were gone before pushing his bed aside. Unlike Matt, he HAD looked at the floor.

He hadn't gotten very far, only being able to work when the guards were preoccupied with something. But now that they're all gone, Hiccup could act more openly. He removed his peg leg and start using it as a hoe to scrap back the earth.

A rumbling noise was heard, Hiccup looking up to see a white oval with wings landing at the edge of the base. "Something tells me I'm running out of time," said Hiccup before digging faster. Of course, it didn't seem very likely that he'd get far before they come back to get him, but he was at least going to try.

Hiccup didn't expect to get very far before the guards found out they'd been duped. As such he wasn't prepared to be pitched into a tunnel under the ground and land on Matt's head who said angrily "Ow...bloody moles."

"Matt? What are you doing here?" asked Hiccup, recognizing his voice.

"Digging," said Matt in a dazed voice.

Then Hiccup took a good look at Matt and noticed the differences with his dragon form. "Wait a minute, you're the dragon we found at the arena? Why didn't you tell us?" he asked.

"I tried, believe me. On a related note, your gods have a sick sense of humor," said Matt, snapping the last part.

Hiccup was about to ask what he meant before shaking his head. "This isn't the best time to be asking about that. Where's Toothless and Starflame?"

"Cells, been trying to dig my way to said cells without success...by the way, about that missing crewmember, she's closer than I thought she was," said Matt, a tad sarcastically.

"Those marauders were talking about her, but they didn't tell me exactly what they knew," said Hiccup.

"I'll tell you later...when you're sitting down," said Matt before asking, "Which way are the cells? I think I might be a tad lost."

...

Anton glared as Chloe, with two of Matt's friends walked forward. "Ok...where's my brother?" she called.

"He's in a special cell," said Anton, "Wouldn't want him breaking out before our deal is done."

"I want to see him before we do any deal. Not that I don't trust you...but I don't," said Chloe icily.

"Of course..." said Anton, hoping those techies had gotten that convincing hologram ready.

With that, he turned to see his 'prisoner' being dragged out by two droids, one of the new infiltrator droids being prepared for some kind of operation in the uncharted sectors. He had to admit that the droid had replicated Lynch's appearance perfectly. Now if only one of those stupid familial connection things would prevent her from figuring out the fraud.

"Matt...you ok?" called Chloe.

Anton winced, hoping the mental flash copy worked before sighing as the clone said in a perfect imitation "Really? You're asking me that?"

"I suppose that is a stupid question," said Chloe, "Are the others ok?"

"They're safe...plus they weren't part of the deal. They're leaving depends on your behavior," said Anton smugly.

Chloe glared at him and said, "How do I know you won't just take them if I go without trouble?"

"You don't. You have no choice in the matter," said Anton smugly.

"Ok, but I have one last request I'd like to make before I give myself over to the dark side," said Chloe.

"What's that?" asked Anton.

"Matt, how about you sing that song we often sang when we were kids? For old time's sake," said Chloe.

Anton sighed. "Take it away maestro," he said, covering his ears in preparation

Matt shrugged and started singing, "London Bridge is falling down, falling down, falling down..."

"Wait a second, that's actually sounding good...and on-key!" interrupted Chloe, "That can't be Matt!"

Anton swore before clicking his fingers the half dozen marauders all jumping out of cover and firing a grey goop at Chloe's hands.

"Oh, you guys are in so much..." started Chloe but when she tried to spark her hands, she couldn't get any electricity out. "Hey, what gives?" she snapped as she tried to pull the goop off.

"Plastic's so much fun, isn't it?" said Anton, grinning.

...

NegaMorph groaned, partially from pain but also from embarrassment...at least when Matt beat him senseless, Matt had the excuse of dragon powers. "You know, I'm pretty sure it's universally frowned upon to chop up and burn your commanding officer," he snapped.

"What about sucking us through...that?" said Ruffnut, shuddering.

"It's never bothered me," said NegaMorph childishly.

"Well you're not exactly...human," said Astrid.

"Course not, I'm awesome," said NegaMorph, proudly before an axe hit his head. "Ok, ok, let's get this over..." he said grouchily, peering out.

To his initial frustration, it looked like the action had already started while those kids were giving him that unnecessary roughhousing. But that frustration increased dramatically when he saw what exactly was going on. "I don't believe it. They're using infiltrator droids, the ones I thought of! I bet they aren't even crediting me for that. And they're trying to grab Chloe, that is too much."

"Wait! What about the...plan," said Astrid before NegaMorph began heading down the hill with murder in mind.

"Guys, I think we better start before things get too out of control," said Fishlegs. The others nodded before noticing a load of boulders...

...

"So let me guess, gonna go for double?" said Chloe nastily, only to look surprised as Anton, after a pause, said into his comm. "Omega, stop looking for Lynch, we're letting him go."

"Ant...can...ba...ignal...reak...up," came OmegaMorph's reply with plenty of static that was possibly fake.

"OmegaMorph, you stand down right now!" snapped Anton before looking surprised as a very childish raspberry came over the airwaves before the comm went dead. "That arrogant, foolhardy..." growled Anton before turning to his men and saying, "Get her inside. I don't want any more prisoners slipping out."

"Yes sir," said a trooper, the group walking to drag Chloe and her companions inside when an angry roar was heard, sounding like 'thieves'.

"And then my day got worse," muttered Anton, recognizing the voice. The troopers turned around to shoot at the intruder, but they kept getting hit from the other side by shadows or fangs. "NegaMorph, I haven't seen you since you got broken down for lab juice," taunted Anton, readying a sonic blast.

"And you won't see me for a while yet," said NegaMorph's voice before something whipped Anton's legs from under him.

Anton went sprawling, the air knocked out of his lungs with an 'oomph'. "OmegaMorph...we have trouble up here...your prototype…" he hissed into his comm.

"And that's my cue to leave," said NegaMorph's voice.

A sonic blast shot out at the sound of the voice then. "Not yet. I've wanted to see this for a bit," said Anton, adding "Or are you leaving your friends to my tender mercies?"

"Aren't they here yet?" asked NegaMorph's voice, "Don't tell me they're hanging back. Are they going to chip in on any of the work?"

"What?" asked Anton before a rumbling got his attention, he and NegaMorph turning to see several boulders rolling down and hitting the marauders' assembled vehicles.

"You've built your vehicles to withstand enemy fire but they get squashed by big rocks?" said NegaMorph, "Lame."

"SHUT UP! OmegaMorph, pick up!" snapped Anton, tossing a sonic blast out again.

...

"The number you have dialed is unavailable," said OmegaMorph in response, grinning as he peered down the tunnel. The stupid human didn't even know OmegaMorph was on his tail, happily jabbering away with the other escapee. So what if his prototype was at the camp? OmegaMorph could squish NegaMorph any time he wanted. It would be too simple a challenge. Anton could take care of the trivial stuff.

"OMEGA-!" began Anton before OmegaMorph crushed his comm with an air of boredom.

"Boring show anyway," he muttered before continuing to follow, turning the corner and coming face to face with Matt.

"Lynch, so you've returned back to your beastly roots once more," said OmegaMorph, "In that case why aren't you tilling in the fields or being studied in a laboratory?" Matt glared before opening his mouth and burping a plasma blast over OmegaMorph. "Breath mint needed?" rasped OmegaMorph.

"You know, you're even more politically incorrect than your prototype," said Matt.

OmegaMorph glared. "Nukes don't need to worry about being politically corre-" he began only for Matt to go "You talk too much too." before blasting OmegaMorph down the tunnel.

Matt turned back to Hiccup and said, "That won't keep him very long. We need to get the others out quick. Lucky he didn't see you too." Matt started digging around before trying up again.

At this point, Matt was expecting to dig up into the munitions tent rather than the pens, which Matt would have ignited just for spite. So he was pleasantly surprised when he popped out of the ground right in front of Kala.

"Matt?" she said, Matt doing a few mental celebrations that the nanites had decided to keep his new bilingual skills intact for now.

Matt shrugged. "I brought Toothless a present," he said, helping Hiccup out.

"What took you so long?" asked Toothless.

"I took a wrong turn at Albuquerque, ok?" snapped Matt.

Toothless looked confused at that, Kala sighed. "Stop confusing my darling," she said, Matt's eye twitching, though he didn't go kill-crazy this time.

"Ok, let's get out of here before they come back," said Hiccup, "I get the feeling they won't bother with us back in cages if they catch us."

A laser bolt shot out at that. "You're right, we won't," said Alicia, walking into view. The sound of a large fight could be heard outside and the troopers with her looked battered...and pretty pissed, if the dragonbuster rifles were any indication.

Matt growled at Alicia and said, "I've got a score to settle with you, particularly with telling a bunch of misleading lies."

"Really? What lies were those?" said Alicia.

"Oh, just the lies about having my girlfriend captive which kept me looking everywhere except where I was supposed to," snapped Matt.

"Yeah, that was fun while it lasted," said Alicia, before pulling out a dragonbuster pistol and firing. Starflame let out a howl of shock as Matt was crumpled, bleeding profusely from one side. "Oh shut up or you're next, Kala," snapped Alicia.

"What? That's Kala?!" asked Hiccup with shock, looking at Starflame.

"Surprise, now move," snapped Alicia, not even blinking as Toothless snarled, her men raising their rifles.

"You do realize that Chloe's never going to cooperate now, right?" said Hiccup.

"Like I care. She's already caught," said Alicia in a bored tone, nobody noticing Matt starting to twitch...and move.

As the troopers were pushing Hiccup towards the door, suddenly one of them started screaming, "ZOMBIE DRAGON! ZOMBIE DRAGON!"

The group turned in horror to see Kala and Toothless naturally backing up from Matt, who had dragged himself to his feet, his eyes glowing pure blue. "What are you standing there for? SHOOT HIM!" snapped Alicia.

"But we didn't bring suitable rounds for undead," protested one trooper.

"He's not dead, you idiots!" snapped Alicia, "I don't know how he survived that shot but make him really dead now!"

The two guards began firing as Alicia dragged Hiccup away. Sadly for her mental state, she was still able to see her men when Matt retaliated, a blast of plasma engulfing them, leaving nothing but vapor and a hole in the cell.

Toothless and Kala took the opportunity to start fighting for their freedom, blasting at the guards that were too preoccupied with Matt. Matt however had gone after Alicia. His brain was naturally in shock...and in alot of pain too but what was coming through was that Alicia was something that needed to be made into either toe jam or a barbeque briquette.

There wasn't very much to get in his way, most things bursting into flames as soon as he got close. His brain noted that one such object complained, "Oh this is the thanks I get? Smeghead." though Matt paid it no attention, choosing to focus on his target instead.

He was getting close when a wall of sound knocked him over. "Lynch, you're not going anywhere. I'll be damned if I'm leaving empty handed...Lynch?" roared Anton, pausing when Matt didn't even react, simply getting back up and continuing, a charging bot melting as it got too close.

But then Anton's attention was broken by several sharp spines landing in the ground in front of him. "What the-" he started before looking up and having to jump aside to avoid being hit by a ball of molten rock.

"Oh please, this is turning into a very bad DAY!" he snapped, sending a few halfhearted blasts before yelling "OMEGAMORPH! GET YOUR ARSE OUT HERE NOW!" He didn't even get static that time. As far as he could tell, it didn't even get through. "OmegaMorph?" he asked before he noticed that Matt was walking towards Chloe. "Oh...shit," he muttered as he saw the plexicuffs starting to melt

...

Chloe couldn't help but be a little unnerved by Matt's current state. This seemed like one of those states where he couldn't tell friend from foe. However there was a plus side, as soon as Matt had passed...the plastic gloves were off. "Oohh AAANTOOOOON!" she called with a vicious tone

As Chloe was marching over to give Anton his delayed comeuppance, she had to jump to the side to avoid being speared by a spine. "Hey! I don't interrupt your righteous revenges!" snapped Chloe.

"Sorry about that," called Astrid.

Anton however had managed to exit stage left, a winged shape vanishing into his ship which was already powering up. "Running? In a ship full of electricity?" said Chloe with a smirk, her eyes starting to glow as several clouds began to form around the rising vessel.

...

"Get us outta here now!" snapped Anton to a navigator droid.

"Electromagnetic field detected, systems...clouding..." said the droid.

"No...nononono...what the," snapped Anton as a fireball burnt out of one of the many 'Matt holes' and a dazed OmegaMorph splatted on the windshield, groaning "Say it and die."

"Well, at least I'm not the only one that's gonna fry," said Anton.

...

Chloe cackled like a lunatic as Anton's ship was pelted with lightning bolts before something finally exploded and it fell down out of sight, spewing smoke. "Ah...you gotta love karma," she chuckled before an agonized and cut off scream brought her back to a big problem. "Oh yeah, homicidal rampaging bro," she muttered.

Matt's trail wasn't too hard to follow. The smoldering pawprints aside, the flaming debris on either side was pretty clear. She turned the corner to find a half conscious Kala and Toothless. She'd seen Matt when Draconus came out to play and the sign they were breathing was a sign that Draconus was still locked up but they'd also been surgically taken out the equation if the plasma burns were any indication, Toothless trying to push himself up as she watched.

"Don't get up right now. Nobody's in any state to abduct you guys," said Chloe, "But where's Hiccup?" Toothless simply growled down the path of destruction. "Oh no," Chloe muttered in horror.

...

Alicia glared at her backup plan. It was a toy that Anton had set up, a void gate, a hunk of Atlantean tech they had found. "Have you found Central yet?" she snapped to the tech working at the controls, what seemed like snapshots of different landscapes appearing as the machine flipped through locations.

"I haven't even gotten to Nullspace yet!" snapped the tech, "This is extremely technical stuff."

"Hurry up!" Alicia snapped, glaring at Hiccup who, along with her remaining men were staring with mounting horror at the approaching column of smoke.

"Ok, I'm finally getting something offplanet," said the tech. The view changed to a lunar view, a Cybertronian staring in shock before running forward.

"Change it, change it, CHANGE IT!" screamed Alicia, the view changing just before the bot reached them.

"CONTACT!" snapped a guard as a glowing dragon strode out the treeline, regarding them with soulless eyes. Even though Hiccup knew it was Matt, he couldn't help but notice that he was as terrifying as the description of the Flightmare in the Book of Dragons.

Matt stared at them curiously, not even noticing the ripples in him as shots impacted and went through

Alicia yelped as her men were practically vaporized before she grabbed Hiccup. "One more step and he's dead!" she yelped. Matt let out a growl that seemed rather indifferent to that threat. "I mean it!" snapped Alicia, readying her blaster. Matt simply opened his mouth, pulling air in for another blast.

Alicia had just about written herself off when an angry yell of "MATTHEW JAMES LYNCH! IF YOU EVEN THINK OF EXHALING THAT BLAST!" caused her to...well get equally as worried.

Matt paused and turned around to see Chloe in dragon form. "That's a friend over there that you were about to blast. If you're gonna kill Alicia, use a precision shot...and you don't understand a word I'm saying, do you?" said Chloe adding the last part gloomily.

Matt only just growled at her. "Ok, how did Matt snap Kala out when she became a flaming mass of rage?" asked Chloe to herself before thinking and adding, "Well, I can't really replicate that. Matt...would Kala want you to viciously murder that...person?"

The mention of Kala's name definitely gave Matt pause, but he soon started growling again. Chloe rolled her eyes "Ok, bad example...I'm your sister and I don't want you to," she tried. That seemed to be even less convincing to Matt who started charging his attack again.

Chloe gulped before saying "What about the friend of yours that she's holding as a human shield?" Finally something seemed to get through to Matt as his charged-up attack started to power down. Chloe breathed a sigh of relief turning to glare at Alicia. "I'd let Hiccup go...slowly," she said. Even though the kid was her only meal ticket, Alicia reluctantly removed her arm from around Hiccup.

"Good...now put the-" began Chloe before Matt spat a blast of energy at Alicia, incinerating her. Chloe looked at what little ashes were left of Alicia before shrugging and said, "Oh well. She had that coming. You can power down now, Matt." Matt however was turning to fix them with the same hostile glare. "Erm...Matt?" said Chloe weakly.

...

Kala groaned, coming too to see Toothless nudging her. "What did I miss, mum?" she groaned.

"The destruction of the camp, the death of all the marauders, and Matt's about to do the same to us," said Toothless frantically.

"WHAT?" Shrieked Kala, an explosion heard in the background.

"He's turned elemental again, but I think it's worse than before," said Toothless.

"Dammit, dammit, dammit!" Kala swore, pushing past Toothless and heading in the direction of the explosions.

It was pretty hard to miss where all the excitement was, since Matt was trying to blast everything moving.

Kala skid to a halt just in time to avoid a blast Matt spat out, Matt turning to glare at him and hissing like boiling water. "Matt, stop this!" yelled Kala, hoping that Matt could still understand her. Matt just hissed angrily, spitting another plasma bolt as several spines from Stormfly were incinerated from the heat coming off him

"Matt, listen to me. You can't let this power control you. It'll keep burning higher and higher until there's nothing left of you," yelled Kala. Matt headed forward, readying a plasma bolt before pausing, glaring closer at her. "Matt, I know all this anger isn't just against Alicia, Anton, and everyone who's been after us today. I've caused this too. I was so angry about how long it took you to see who I was that I didn't realize I was causing you pain too," said Kala.

Matt tilted his head, in a confused motion. "I admit I might have gone too far with tormenting you, namely with trying to snuggle that hunky Toothless..." Matt's growl quickly put Kala back on track. "But I do want to forgive you for hurting me if you can forgive me for hurting you. Please," said Kala tearing up a bit as Matt readied another plasma blast, probably meant for her before he fired it skywards instead.

Kala looked as Matt as he started to glow. Not the same glow as his plasma powers, but a brighter kind that seemed more mystic in nature. There was a flash of light and a cloak floated off Matt, now back in his proper Avalarian form, Matt hearing "Hostile magi source neutralized."

"Oh...my head..." groaned Matt.

Kala just nuzzled him, the bilingual abilities having gone apparently. Matt settled for nuzzling her back. Chloe flew up to them and said, "As much as I hate to break up this love fest, I think the kids need a bigger explanation."

"They can wait. I've been looking long enough," said Matt, glaring at Chloe.

NegaMorph flew up and said, "Hey, we could salvage some of this stuff for the battlecruiser when it cools down. Assuming any of it's still useable." He noticed Matt and Kala nuzzling and asked, "Did I miss something here? Why's Matt cuddling Starflame? I thought we were still looking for Kala."

"Starflame IS Kala," said Chloe.

"What? Kala is..." NegaMorph slapped his forehead and said, "Duh! Of course she's Kala. If it were a snake it would have bitten me." Kala, annoyed by the interruptions, chomped down on NegaMorph's head and shook him around. "Walked right into that one, didn't I?" came NegaMorph's muffled voice.

"Kala, I wanted to try this. PULL!" Matt said, Kala throwing NegaMorph into the sky who said "Don't even think-" which was as far as he got before a plasma blast hit him.

"Ok, you've made your point," said Chloe, "I guess I'll go debrief the kids."

...

A burst of shadow heralded the return of the kids and the missing dragons, just in time too as the stun grenade was finally wearing off naturally.

Snotlout sat up and yawned, "Boy, I had a really weird dream... Wait, wasn't I at the docks?"

Matt, who had caught a shadow warp back, was pale, luckily in human form. "Never...again...what the hell happened to Snotlout?" said Matt, looking at the paint covering Snotlout's face. He looked like a packet of Skittles had vomited on him.

"Oh, not much," said Tuffnut, "We didn't have much time to do much."

Matt looked at the twins before back at Snotlout before his brain decided to stop bothering. "Ok...never mind," he said with a sigh.

"Well, I suppose the only thing we'll have to explain is why everyone ended up sleeping through most of the day," said Hiccup, looking around.

"Tired from overwork?" suggested NegaMorph.

Hiccup shrugged and said, "Most of them probably will have thought of their own excuse anyways."

"The human mind, we're so lazy," said Matt happily.

"So what about that new dragon?" asked Snotlout.

"Hi," said Matt, waving, "I'm right here. On a related note, your gods have evil senses of humor."

"I heard that," said a familiar voice. Matt spun around to see Freya.

"See?! I told you they get sick kicks! Why are you not looking?" asked Matt, noticing that only Kala had turned to look.

"Oh COME ON...TIME FREEZING? I thought only Mr. Black was that cliché," said Matt, annoyed

"It's useful when we want a private word and don't have to stop answer passerby's every little question," said Freya.

"Just so you know, me and Kala despise you to a level that only the old NegaMorph once held," said Matt casually.

"Look, I wasn't the one who turned her into a dragon. I was just offering a simpler way of finding her since you weren't able to do so yourself. The marauders were an unforeseen coincidence," said Freya.

"Unforeseen? Bullcrap. Gods see everything! Of course you saw them!" snapped Matt.

"The Fates had left a small chance that this event would happen. Which could have prevented by you making a wiser decision which you didn't," said Freya, "And to save you a night of brain-picking, it was trusting your message to the Ultimate Fool."

"Morph will suffer," said Matt and Kala in unison, though neither understood the other.

"Oh, for much more than that," said Freya, "But that suffering could have been mitigated as well several other times. Your immortal friends informed me that there was a higher reason for Kala's predicament. Another reason was a test for your relationship. And while Matt's love has proven true, his wisdom is sadly lacking."

"OI, right here!" snapped Matt.

"Yes, so I don't have to repeat myself," said Freya.

"You know, you're not sounding much like a goddess of love," said Matt.

"Well, flowery talk doesn't really cross your border very quickly," said Freya. Matt opened his mouth to retort before finally conceding that points, albeit reluctantly.

"Fortunately for you two, that higher calling is not too far off now. Once that's over, she shall be restored to her rightful form. Should be about the same time you've dug your ship out of the ice and got it working again," said Freya.

"You know about that?" said Matt bluntly before trying something, "You wouldn't mind telling me what's in the base's cellar would you? The door's locked by a containment door."

Freya frowned and said, "Normally I'd tell you not to look in the basement, but that would probably go unheeded. Since you'll eventually go down there, I'll have to say only go there when you're ready. Once unearthed, things will be quickly set in motion."

"What kind of things? I am not having another soul stone incident like on Avalar," snapped Matt.

"Technically, what's down there is not bad, but it'll attract those who will have less than peaceful intentions," said Freya.

"Oh, so it's the old fashioned 'horrible doom from the dawn of time'," said Matt gloomily.

"Not that far back, but quite ancient," said Freya, "But you might have another problem before that happens."

"What kind of problem?" began Matt before Freya vanished, time returning.

"YOU DUMB BLONDE ARMTWISTER!" yelled Matt.

"What was that?" asked Astrid coldly.

"Not you, Freya, the pain in the arse warned me of terribleness and didn't bother to tell me what was coming," said Matt manically.

The kids gave each other disbelieving looks before Astrid said, "Ok, you've had a very stressful day. I think you need to go lie down and relax."

"It's true! I'M NOT CRAZY!" snapped Matt, before Kala gripped his trouser leg and started dragging him away. "I'll talk with you guys later, my jealous girlfriend wants more attention," called Matt.

...

One flight trip later, Matt and Kala were back at the base. Morph just happened to be outside when they landed. "Hi Matt, how was your day?" asked Morph.

Matt and Kala both growled at Morph, Matt snarling "What happened to the letter I gave you?"

"Letter?" asked Morph.

"The piece of paper I told you to show to the others," growled Matt.

"Oh...we made some dollys from it," said Morph, showing his string of paper Stitch cutouts. Matt spasmed at that as Kala, despite everything began laughing

"So what have you been doing today?" asked Morph.

"Asides from being kidnapped and going elemental on all the marauders, I've found Kala," said Matt through gritted teeth.

"Good, where was she?" asked Morph.

"Turns out she's actually Starflame here," said Matt, gesturing towards Kala.

"Oh yeah, I forgot that," said Morph.

"YOU KNEW?!" snapped Matt, squeezing Morph.

"I think she told me a few times, but then something interesting happens like- Ooh, sparkly ice!" Morph stared at the iceberg before asking, "What were we talking about again?"

Matt twitched before starting to snigger madly. Morph giggled and said, "Aren't you in a happy mood?"

The explosion was apparently heard all the way in Berk...

...

The island that the Red Death had occupied had been abandoned since its death, even other dragons avoiding it despite the ideal location for a nest. However, it was not the memory of the Red Death that kept them away, but something else that had been kept underground for many years.

The North Star's final death throes had smashed an old cave network back open where, far at the back and seemingly out of place, stood a pair of stone double doors which were usually heavily barricaded and covered in runes, a situation the North Star wreck's scuttling had sadly solved, a huge crack through one set of runes which were inexplicably flickering with a faint green glow.

While the island had been deserted, if anyone were there to hear, they'd heard something scraping on the other side of the door and the occasional pounding. And the pounding was become more frequent.

---

There's another chapter and we're starting to get some closure. Matt has finally found Kala and the Marauders are permanently dealt with. Of course, there's still the problem that she's a Night Fury and there's probably going to be other problems making themselves known very soon. Tune in next week to see what will pop up. Please review.