Chapter 7

Diablos Season Part 2

Hiccup's House, Twilight

The scrawny Chief-to-be closed the door behind him with a stifled yawn. Everyone else was already there – Sightless relaxing by the fire pit, Stoick in his chair working on a wooden duck decoy, and Batwings laying in the rafters with his eyes staring up at the ceiling.

"Rough day, son?" asked Stoick, putting his finished duck down.

"I wouldn't call it 'rough'," corrected Hiccup, a bit tiredly. "Just… you know, exhausting."

"Still thinking of a way to calm Snaketail's Diablos down, are you?" the Chief asked shrewdly. He reached down to poke at the fire in the fire pit, which was starting to die down.

Hiccup nodded and yawned again. "I'm not quite sure what we're going to do, Dad," he admitted. "The Book of Monsters isn't any help, and neither are Snotlout or the twins. Fishlegs said he would do his best to figure it out and get back to be in the morning, but…"

"But you have your doubts," Stoick finished for him.

Flopping down to the floor beside Sightless, Hiccup gave his father another nod, but one that was much more somber than the last. The Gore Magala picked up on his rider's feelings and gave him a friendly lick across the cheek, which sadly didn't get much of a smile out of him.

"Son," Stoick began, in his 'I'm-about-to-give-you-a-lecture-that-you-won't-like-but-is-important-nonetheless' voice. "Trust me, I don't want Twinhorn gone any more than you or Snaketail do. If the girl is the first to admit she's a good monster, then I'd probably be the second. But being a Chief means that you have to do what's right for the village, even if it means doing something that you might not want to do."

"Like sending the monsters back to Monster Island?" asked Hiccup dejectedly.

"Yes, just like that," sighed Stoick. "I just want you to understand, Hiccup, that if you can't fix this problem, then I will have to step in and take care of it myself. That's what the Chief does."

Letting out a heavy sigh of his own, Hiccup replied, "Yes, Dad. I understand."

Stoick gave his son an approving nod, then stood up from his chair to give him a pat on the back. "Good. Good talk, son."

When the Chief had lumbered off to his bedroom, Batwings turned over onto his side in order to face Hiccup. He suggested, "Who knows? Maybe Fishlegs will have the solution in the morning."

"I really hope you're right," Hiccup replied.

"But," Batwings continued, "and I'm just throwing this out there, but what if he doesn't? What'll we do then?"

Hiccup leaned against Sightless and murmured, "That's the problem. I don't know."

Farming Lands, Early Morning

Unfortunately, Fishlegs didn't have an answer when Hiccup called everyone to meet near the barn. None of the animals were present, as they had already been taken out to the fields by Mulch and Bucket. The twins were hanging upside-down by their knees above the yak stables while Astrid sat on an overturned bucket, sharpening her Midnight Blackwings. Arachne was watching her hone the Dual Blades' edges, her gaze full of admiration as usual, and Snaketail was pacing back and forth worriedly.

She was even more restless than her new Grapple Grounder, a naturally excitable dragon with a short attention span. Right now, the cabbage-loving Grounder was sitting on the roof of the barn, head jerking in all directions as she tried to take in all the sights the farming lands had to offer.

"Nothing," the Ingerman boy said sadly, shaking his head. "I looked all over the Book of Monsters again. I even tried reading between the lines! But I couldn't find anything."

"It's alright, Fishlegs," Hiccup sighed, and patted his friend on the back. "You did the best you could."

"How do you read between the lines?" piped up Tuffnut, dropping the Book of Monsters on Fishlegs' head. "All I saw between the lines was blank space. And I have trouble just trying to read regular words."

The majority of the gang ignored him.

"Would you stop that?" yelled Snotlout, slapping Tuff's hair away from his face. "Your brains are going to fall out of your heads if you don't sit right-side up."

"Oh, we're not worried about something as stupid as that," Ruff scoffed, smirking.

"Yeah!" her brother agreed. "We don't even have brains!"

Batwings snickered under his breath, "I'm not going to argue with that."

For the fifth time, Snaketail paced around the group, going in a continuous circle and wringing her hands. She said in a voice tight with concern, "Guys, this is serious! We need to figure something out fast, or – Fishlegs, what did you eat this morning?!" she suddenly demanded, wrinkling her nose in the husky boy's direction.

"What?" he replied, slightly hurt. "I just had a few salmon. And a piece of bread. And some of the leftover Bulldrome sausage we ate last night." He hung his head and added, "Alright, say it. I'm a glutton."

"There's nothing wrong with eating when you're hungry, Fishy," chirped Arachne. She earned herself a grateful smile from the Ingerman boy.

Now Hiccup could tell that something wasn't right when a peculiar scent made its way up his nose. He sniffed, wincing a little at the rather unpleasant aroma, but he couldn't identify what it was. Which, considering the people he hung out with on a regular basis, didn't exactly soothe him.

"Snotlout," he asked suspiciously, "when was the last time you had a bath?"

"Oh, you smell something funny and you automatically think it's me!" his cousin shot back, insulted. "I had a bath just last week! I'm squeaky clean!"

"Someone get the water and soap," quipped Astrid, smirking down at her Dual Blades.

"I don't think that's Snotlout's colorful aroma, however offensive it may be," Batwings said musingly, sniffing the air as Hiccup had. "It smells different. Kind of musty, actually, and definitely not musty as in 'we're in a barn filled with animals that sleep in their own dung'."

Fishlegs brightened all of a sudden and fished out Twinhorn's scale, exclaiming, "Oh, it must be this! I took this home to analyze it, just in case it could tell us what was wrong with Twinhorn. I noticed that it smelled a little awful."

"So what did it tell you?" asked Ruffnut inquisitively.

"Yeah, I didn't know scales could talk!" added Tuffnut, ignorant as always.

Hiccup's brow wrinkled into a thoughtful expression. "Her scale smells weird, she's behaving more violently every day… I don't know what the connection there is."

Everyone went silent for a few moments as they separately contemplated the issue at hand. No one seemed able to figure anything out, and when one of them opened his or her mouth to speak, they swiftly closed it again.

A loud braying from the fields cut through their concentration. Mulch could be heard yelling, "Go on, get! Get, you pesky monster!"

The Monster Riders peeked out of the barn and saw Mulch and Bucket trying to chase off a large Shogun Ceanataur, which was rubbing its mantis-like pincers together with relish as it stalked toward the herd of yaks. It was clear that the massive crab wanted steak for breakfast.

"Someone had better help them get that Ceanataur away from the yaks before we end up short one herd," advised Hiccup.

"I've got this one!" decreed Snotlout. He picked up his Hammer and dashed for the fields, yelling "Snotlout, Snotlout, oi, oi, oi!"

Arachne watched him go, a look of confusion on her face. "What are those two even doing with the yaks, anyway?"

"It's a little complicated –" Astrid began quickly, but Fishlegs interrupted her.

"Sure it is," he butted in. "Like it's so complicated that herbivores all over the island are having their mating season, and that Mulch and Bucket are trying to breed more yaks for the farm before winter sets in."

"Ew," said Arachne, having heard enough.

"Thank you so much, Fishlegs," growled Astrid, holding up her swords.

Hiccup would later remember that particular instant as the moment everything became clear to him. The scrawny Haddock boy excitedly raced over to Fishlegs and tapped his arms, unable to contain himself.

"I've figured it out!" he exclaimed. "It's the herbivores' mating season, Fishlegs! That's what's riling Twinhorn up so much!"

Immediately, Snaketail paused in her restless pacing. "Wait, so let me get this straight," she said. "Twinhorn is rampaging all over Berk and destroying houses because she's lusting for a male Diablos."

"Um, when you put it that way…" Fishlegs tried to amend, but wisely trailed off.

"Then that odd scent on her scale must be some sort of hormone that's driving her into this crazy aggressive state," concluded Batwings. "We had better find a male Diablos and fast, before she tries to take out her frustration on the village again and seals her fate."

No sooner were the words out of his mouth when the sound of a horn pealed over the farming lands, coming from the village. More horns sounded with it, and the gang could distantly hear the adult Vikings running into battle.

"Looks like we just ran out of time," sighed Arachne.

"No!" barked Snaketail, startling them all. "We need to find Stoick and tell him what's going on. If we can get just a little more time, we can fix this!"

She let out a sharp whistle, and her Grapple Grounder slithered down from the roof and obediently leapt over to her side. Pulling herself up onto the saddle that Gobber had made for her, the Grundenson girl muttered, "Come on, Horrorcow. We've got a friend to rescue."

"Horrorcow?" repeated Ruff. "I don't see any cows. I just see yaks."

"Interesting name," said Hiccup, looking over Snaketail and her mount.

"Well, she's kind of scary-looking and she likes cabbage, so…" she told him, shrugging. "Anyway, we've got work to do, right?"

Nodding, Hiccup turned to the group and gave the call to action. "Alright, gang. We've got to find Twinhorn a boyfriend before she destroys the village."

Just then, Snotlout made his appearance amongst them again, walking up to the barn and just catching the end of Hiccup's sentence. "Astrid needs a boyfriend? Well, I'm not trying to make biased recommendations or anything, but I definitely consider myself – YAAAUGH!"

His slightly flirtatious remark ended in a scream as Astrid shoved him to the ground and slammed the heel of her leather boot onto his belly.

"Just be thankful it wasn't one of these," she snarled as she stalked away, holding up one of her Midnight Blackwings.

Village Plaza

The familiar sounds of a certain irate Black Diablos reached the Monster Riders' ears well before they reached the village plaza. It only took them a moment to gather their monsters and fly toward the square, from which some Vikings ran in fear while even more Vikings charged toward with various weapons held high.

The distinctive rushing noise of wind over monster wings was in the air when Hiccup and his fellow riders flew toward the plaza, ready to put an end to Twinhorn's destructive temper tantrum once and for all.

Hiccup gave the rest of the gang their orders as they flew into battle. "Alright, we're going to do just as we've done these past few days. Astrid, Fishlegs, and Snotlout will keep Twinhorn occupied from the sky. Batwings and I will join you once we inform my dad of what's going on. Ruff, Tuff, Arachne, I need you three to fly into the woods and find a male Diablos to lure back here. Remember, it'll have regular brown scales, not black."

"You've got it, boss!" cried Tuff. He and King winged their way toward the forest, followed by Ruff and Queen, with Arachne and Venomwing close behind them.

"Let's go make this old girl mad!" cheered Astrid, and she steered Blackhawk toward the battle just ahead. Snotlout and Fishlegs went with her.

"Hiccup!" called Snaketail, just as he and Batwings were about to go and find the Chief. "What about me?"

"You go with Lout and the others," the Haddock boy told her. "You should wait in the wings just in case you're needed. It's your monster, after all."

Understanding his orders perfectly, Snaketail gave him a determined nod and patted Horrorcow's neck, indicating that she follow the monsters flying toward the plaza. With a squeal, the Grapple Grounder obeyed.

The Haddock boy and the Siren found Stoick the Vast running down the steps from the house they shared, a Switch Axe in hand and charging on a direct course toward the plaza. It was brutally obvious what his intentions were as he headed toward the scene of battle in the village below.

"Dad!" called Hiccup, swooping over him.

"No time, Hiccup!" came the gruff reply. "This has gone on for long enough. I'm going to put an end to this menace."

"You can't do that!" objected Batwings. "In fact, we just found out what's making Twinhorn so grumpy."

Stoick was so surprised that he stopped in his tracks, which gave Hiccup the opportunity to jump in and hurriedly explain what they had discovered. When he had finished his explanation, his father was nodding thoughtfully.

"Alright, that makes sense," the Chief conceded, activating the mechanism on his Switch Axe that folded up the blade into a harmless position. "So, how're you going to find a male Diablos in this chaos?"

"Arachne and the twins are flying over the forest right now, trying to locate one," Batwings told him. "Astrid, Lout, and Tail are in the plaza, trying to fend off Twinhorn until they get back."

When Stoick nodded again, it was a gesture of understanding. He cupped his hands out and bellowed, "Riders, follow my lead!" before continuing on his way down to the plaza, with a trio of Vikings mounted on Gronckles flanking him from behind.

"We should aid them," Hiccup told Batwings.

"They're going to need all the help they can get," he agreed. "Let's go, Mocktalk!"

The Qurupeco and Gore Magala shot off toward the battle, where bursts of flame and flying rocks launched from catapults were flying every which way. In the center of it all stood Twinhorn, a ragged, earsplitting screech tearing out of her throat as she whipped her tail and swung her intact horn at anything that caught her eye. She seemed more aggressive than she ever had been, if that was possible.

"Hiccup!" came the cry, and Hiccup turned to see Astrid and Blackhawk flying toward him. "She's completely out of control! Our monsters are hardly doing anything to distract her!"

"We don't want her to be driven away this time," he reminded her. "We just want her occupied until the twins and Arachne show up."

Almost immediately after he said that, a bellowing roar rang out across the village, deeper than Twinhorn's and loud enough to startle the fighting Vikings below.

"Wow, that was fast," Hiccup remarked.

Ruff and Tuff came flying overhead, with Queen and King shooting bursts of fire down upon the ground. Directly below them was a huge male Diablos, a regular mud brown in color and slightly larger than Twinhorn. From the way he flinched away from the fire blasts that goaded him forward, Hiccup could tell that he was of the normal Diablos temperament – slightly timid, yet not afraid to use its strength in battle.

And it was going to have to right now. Upon seeing the intruder, Twinhorn roared and rushed him hostilely with her single horn. The other Diablos bellowed in response and ran out of the way, allowing the Black Diablos to charge straight through a house.

"I thought she was supposed to calm down right about now!" called Stoick from below.

"Yeah, I wasn't really expecting this either," replied Hiccup, his expression becoming slightly nervous.

But he had spoken too soon. Twinhorn smashed her way out of the house and stomped toward the male Diablos, growling. He matched her growl with one of his own and shook his head impressively, displaying his horns. That did nothing to deter Twinhorn, who lunged forward with horn thrust out – only to get it caught between the horns of the male, who had met her lunge with one of his own.

"Oh yeah, Diablos fight!" whooped Snotlout. "Did anyone bring snacks for this show?"

The two Diabloses struggled back and forth, pushing and shoving each other with their horns in a test of strength. When Twinhorn would aggressively push forward in an attempt to win, the male would growl and stand his ground before advancing with slow, struggling steps. It was almost like an arm-wrestling contest between the Thorston twins, Hiccup realized – tense, tedious, and with no apparent winner.

Without warning, the male Diablos took a huge step forward and gave a huge shove with his horns, knocking Twinhorn out of their wrestling match. Furious at having lost, the Black Diablos bellowed deafeningly before taking a whack at her opponent with her tail. Unperturbed, the male smartly jumped out of the way before smacking her across the snout with his own club.

His attention totally riveted on the contest of strength down below, Hiccup could vaguely hear Ruff and Tuff cheering, "Diablos fight! Ole! Ole!"

From her position just behind Horrorcow's head, Snaketail was cheering too. She wanted her monster to go back to normal. She wanted the male Diablos to teach her a lesson!

The two flying wyverns had locked horns again, with Twinhorn as the initiator. Back and forth the great brutes struggled, their strength seemingly even. Stoick and the rest of the Vikings, and the teens circling on their monsters high above, were enraptured as they looked on from the sidelines.

Suddenly, Twinhorn lunged forward and threw the male away, roaring triumphantly. But the other Diablos wasn't hurt, even as he toppled onto his side and flattened an unfortunate wheelbarrow. He got up and charged forward with tremendous speed, headbutting Twinhorn in her exposed belly, the points of his horns intentionally pointed down to prevent any permanent injuries. The Black Diablos, totally surprised, didn't even have time to struggle as her foe shoved her into a torch, toppling the massive structure.

Vikings screamed and ran out of the way as the gigantic torch came falling down on top of yet another house with a terrible, deafening crash. Twinhorn lost her balance and fell onto her back, groaning softly. The other Diablos raised his head and let out a victorious screech, spreading his wings in celebration.

"He did it!" cried Snaketail, applauding wildly. The other teens joined in, and soon all of the villagers were clapping and whistling as well. Everyone was equally happy that Twinhorn had been brought down at last.

The Black Diablos groaned again and suddenly rolled over onto her belly, before planting her feet on the ground and getting back up. She seemed completely calm for the first time in weeks, not even lashing her tail in anger as the male came up and gently butted his head against hers, a gesture of affection.

Good game, he seemed to be saying.

The Monster Riders, knowing that they were safe, landed their monsters and dismounted. The plaza looked completely trashed, but Hiccup found comfort in the fact that they probably would never have to worry about such destruction again.

"Now Twinhorn's probably going to go back to her normal, calm, brown-as-can-be self," Batwings said with satisfaction.

"I can't wait," replied Snaketail, relieved. "It's so good to know that this whole nightmare is over."

"Hang on," Tuffnut spoke up. "We did this so that Twinhorn would stop breaking stuff? What's the point of that?"

"Look on the bright side," suggested Ruffnut. "At least that gives us a lot more un-broken stuff to break." She smirked as her brother lightened up at this idea, and they banged helmets in celebration.

Snaketail stood there with a small smile on her face as Twinhorn and the male lumbered off back toward the woods. She wasn't worried – she knew that her monster would come back to her when she was good and ready.

Possibly with little Diablos children nipping at her heels.

Anger is powerful, but it is seldom controlled. And sometimes, the only way to be rid of it is to find a rather unexpected solution.

Now that Twinhorn will soon be a mother, I doubt we'll have to worry about any more temper tantrums for a good long while.

The Black Diablos has been stated to be a female in breeding season, so... hopefully she calms down soon.

And that's that! How'd I do on this episode of my own invention, readers? Be sure to let me know, please! (Sorry if it was a bit shorter than what you were expecting.)

The next exciting chapter will come soon, I promise! Review in the meantime, if you will.

Next time: In Monsters We Trust