At last! The long awaited battle scene. Ah this was honestly one of my favorite chapters to write. I hope you enjoy this as much as I did.

The Battle Begins

We'd all mounted our selected dragons. The twins wanted the Zippleback, Fishlegs went to the Gronckle, Snotlout was all ready agreed with the Monstrous Nightmare and Ashter and I were on the Deadly Nadder. I had told them the dragons' genders so there wouldn't be any confusion. We were flying towards the Dragon's Nest, much to the dragons' dislike, when Toothless started talking to me again. This time he was panicking and not trying to hide it.

Hali, your father broke open the nest! Toothless shouted. The dragons left already but I'm not so sure about Merciless. Oh Thor almighty! Actually, I am. He's out and angry! Hurry!

My grip tightened on the rope as I nudged Stormfly, the Nadder, in the side to make her go faster. I called over my shoulder, "Guys we need to hurry! We don't have much time!"

"How do you know?" Snotlout called, flying closer on Hookfang.

I groaned but nonetheless answered her question. "Because Toothless told me. Now less talking and more flying." I urged Stormfly to speed up, the dragons and their riders behind us doing the same.

"Toothless told you?" Ashter asked, leaning against me.

"Yeah," I replied. "We have a telepathic link and he told me that my dad just opened the nest. And the Giant Dragon, Merciless, is out." His arms tightened around my waist at the mention of Merciless.

He nodded. "Okay. I agree. We need to hurry."

When we were at the nest, the shore was chaotic. The ships were on fire while there were Vikings scattered on the ground, launching boulders with catapults, throwing spears and had stakes on the ground to act as a barrier. That was when I saw Merciless. He was bigger than ever outside of the nest. If anything, he was even bigger than the volcano itself. My father and Gobber were taunting him, gaining his attention.

I turned to face the others as they grouped up behind me. "This ends today," I told them. They nodded, their faces set in determination. I breathed out slowly as the birthmark on my back slowly burned, not painfully, but powerfully. I felt something rush through my veins and I rolled my shoulders. "It's go time!"

With that, we rushed in. We flew in from his back, hoping to get a surprise shot in before my father and Gobber did something stupider than what they were doing. I tapped the side of Stormfly's head and pointed to the back of Merciless. She understood immediately and let out a powerful blast that distracted the ginormous dragon. It turned to us but we were already out of the way.

"Ruff,Tuff, watch your backs!" I shouted. Taking a glance over my shoulder, I saw Fishlegs was lagging behind. He did have a Gronckle after all. "Fishlegs move it!" Merciless snapped at us just after I lead them out of harm's way. We climbed higher, making sure to be out of reach of the mighty jaws. We started circling each other, staying within earshot.

"Look at us!" Tuffnut yelled excitedly. "We're on dragons! We're on dragons, all of us!"

"Let's move it! Fly up!" I flew up, the others following my example. We then began to circle over the monster's head. I was in full game-plan mode. "Fishlegs, break it down for us."

"Okay," he said, looking down at the beast below. "Heavily armored skull and tail made for bashing and crushing. Stay clear of them both. Small eyes, large nostrils. Relies on hearing and smell."

I nodded, going over all the things that Gobber had told us while we 'learned on the job.' "Okay. Lout, Legs, hand in its blind spot. Make some noise and keep it confused. Ruff, Tuff, find out if it has a shot limit. Make it mad!"

Ruffnut laughed. "That's my specialty!"

Tuffnut looked at her confused. "Since when? Everyone knows I'm more irritating. See." To prove his point, he twisted his dragons neck upside down while make a really irritating noise.

"Just do as I told you," I said, exasperated. "I'll be back as soon as I can."

"Don't worry, we got it covered!" Tuffnut called after me. Fishlegs cheered, emphasizing Tuff's point. We peeled away just as the twins started throwing insults at the beast. Had this been under different circumstances, I would have laughed.

My eyes scanned the fiery boats for any sign of Toothless. As we flew by each one, Toothless roared. I pinpointed exactly where the roar had come from. I pointed to that boat. "There!" Stormfly banked as I slowly stood up, handing the ropes to Ashter as I kept my hand on his shoulder to keep my balance. Stormfly stopped just above the boat and out of the flames reach.

I jumped off of her and landed on the boat, much to Ashter's shock. "Go help the others!" I told him. He nodded and flew off. I turned my attention to the chained up Night Fury. I grabbed the muzzle, and with a yank, it was off, allowing him to talk.

"Couldn't have picked a better time," he said, pressing his nose against my cheek. I smiled and grabbed a hold of the chains around his upper body. My birthmark flared, giving me a surge of strength. The clasp came loose and fell off. For just a moment, I paused and looked at my hands as if they weren't my own.

I shrugged, not wanting to complain about this. I grabbed the other wooden lock and pulled. This one was a little harder. I grunted as I tried again but to no avail. That was until I was gently pushed aside by my father. His weapon was on the ground as he exchanged stares with Toothless. Whatever went through their heads seemed like a mutual agreement.

Dad went to the clasp and jerked it open at once. I sighed, relieved by the action. I made for the saddle when something rammed into the side of the boat. Almost.

I didn't know what possessed me to do it, but I thrust my hand out and something shielded the boat we were on. The tail of the beast passed right through us, leaving us unharmed. I gaped as did my father and Toothless. It was a few seconds before I could form some kind of coherent thought. And I laughed. Because what I did was freaking awesome!

I turned to my dad who stared right back at me. "Dad... look.." I started but he cut me off with the raise of his hand.

"I know," he said, lowering his hand to his side. "I'm sorry too. You know you don't have to go up there." He nodded to the monstrous dragon.

I glanced back at it. Then, with a smirk, I said, "We're Vikings. It's an occupational hazard."

He smiled at me fondly. He grasped my hand and looked straight into my eyes. "I'm proud to call you my daughter." I rushed over and hugged him tightly. He wrapped his arms around me before letting go. After all, I had a war to stop. He gave me a nod. So I mounted the saddle and hooked my harness in.

With the encouragement from my father believing in me for the right thing, we took off and streaked into the sky. I could faintly hear Ashter cry, "She's up!" We flew around, watching as the plan I formed worked through. Ashter ordered the twins to do something and they were flying towards Merciless. Snotlout was apparently on its head before the twins had come to his rescue. He leaped off, being caught in the middle of the two heads.

Fishlegs was pulling himself out of the ground, resting a hand on Meatlug as he called her. Ashter was just about to head towards us when Merciless started inhaling. Ashter was getting sucked in. Toothless and I exchanged glances and we were both thinking the same thing.

Toothless let out an ear-piercing screech as he dove towards Merciless, preparing a plasma blast. He fired at Merciless's side, forcing him to halt his intake. Unfortunately the blast also had an effect on Stormfly and Ashter. Stormfly was released as her frantic flapping carried her off in a zip while Ashter was flung into the air, screaming like always.

"We're coming!" I shouted to him. Toothless spun around and nose-dived towards him, catching him by the leg. "Did you get him?"

Toothless bent his head over. "Yep," he said happily. He set Ashter down on his feet mid-flight then took off again. We rocketed past the beast's head and climbed into the clouds. I looked down at the mighty dragon below.

"That thing's got wings," I stated. "Okay. Let's see if it can use them!" We turned around and gained tremendous speed. Toothless took in a sharp breath and fired a powerful blast at Merciless, causing him to flop over with a roar. We then slowly flew up as the dust from the blast scattered around. I stared at the beast, his wings rising up.

He flapped his wings powerfully and after a few times, he was up in the air, enraged. I exhaled sharply. "Right, let's try something," I said. I rubbed my hands together and focused on what I did at the boat. I held my hand out as Merciless slowly gained altitude. A pinprick of blue light formed at the center of my palm. The more I focused, the larger it grew until it was bigger than my hand.

The ball of light I held was soon shot at Merciless. It flew behind us and exploded right near his head. It did damage, alright. Made a bloody hole right near one of his eyes. Toothless and I used this distraction to our advantage. We zipped forward and after hearing a bellowing roar come from Merciless, the beats of wings flapping sounded behind us. And it was gaining.

I leaned into the saddle, giving us the aerodynamic advantage. My foot clicked into place and we were maneuvering between sea stacks, Merciless just busting right through them. The Vikings were cheering beneath us though they were cut off as Merciless let out a stream of fire, blowing just past us, although I was given a slight haircut.

"There it goes!" I shouted. We narrowly dodged the fire and flew upwards. Merciless added to the plan by flapping his wings madly and spreading the smoke around. "Alright, Toothless, time to disappear!" Toothless nodded wordlessly and sped up into the clouds, the smoke surrounding us. I tried not to breathe too much in. We slipped right in the cloud cover as Merciless's taunting roars sounded like thunder.

Toothless gently flapped his wings to hover, ensuring that little sound was made. Merciless looked around madly for any sign of us.

Now? Toothless asked silently, his muscles tensing.

I waited for Merciless's back to be turned. Now, I confirmed. Toothless dove forward, his familiar screech sounding for a split second and the next, a plasma blast was directed at Merciless's wing, piercing a hole in it. The giant dragon whipped around but we were already out of sight. Toothless spun around and aimed another shot. Then again. And again. And again. I even threw in my own little energy blast.

Unfortunately for us, Merciless was more than a little annoyed. He roared and let out a continuous column of fire blindly. The fire went all over the place and I saw the glow of the fire coming closer to us. "Watch out!" I exclaimed as Toothless dove too late. The fire had already clipped the bottom of Toothless's tail, catching the artificial tail fin on fire.

"N'okay, time's up," I said. "Let's see if this'll work." I pulled Toothless into a turn and we flew straight towards Merciless. "Is that the best you can do?"

"Come on, you coward!" Toothless roared. We plunged into a dive, Merciless right on our tail. We were gaining speed, going faster than ever.

"Don't evade him," I muttered to Toothless. "Not now. Keep in his sights." I took a glance at the disintegrating tail. We didn't have very much time to work with. Merciless closed the gap, his eyes narrowing. I tucked in, keeping Toothless steady as our plunge slowed down.

We're okay, Toothless. Just a little bit longer. Merciless's mouth opened up, the green gas emerging, ready for ignition. Hold... The hiss came.

I braced myself. "Now!" I shouted. I slammed the petal hard as toothless extended a wing and we swiveled around in place. We were facing Merciless's gaping jaws. Toothless fired point blank at the building gas, igniting it at once. It backfired, sending out a chain of fire throughout his massive body. He choked on the fireball and threw open his wings in a vain attempt to slow his descent.

Toothless pivoted and we were flung out of our plunge, flying through one of the tearing holes in the massive wings. Merciless roared as he hit the ground head-first. He exploded in a mass of flames like the Hindenburg disaster. We weaved through the spikes on the monster's back, the flames gaining fast.

The obstacles cleared, I looked back at the fireball we were outrunning. Turning back, I saw the tail made for bashing and crushing swing towards us. "Tuck and roll!" I screamed. Toothless tucked his wings in and dove to narrowly avoid the club of a tail. But the tail clipped Toothless's side and in turn, my leg. I yelped as I clung to the saddle, the pain nearly blinding my vision.

While we managed escape maze of the monster's back, that, however, did not stop us from going into a spastic free-fall. We tumbled through the air and somehow, Toothless had managed to get me off the saddle and into his arms. His wings wrapped around me, concealing me in a fireproof shell. From the sounds of it, we spun, head-over-tail, and crashed on the ground.

We skidded on the ground, Toothless groaning as we did so. After that, I groaned myself then accepted blacking out for the time being.

Wow that was one hell of a battle. What do you guys think about Hali's new power? Anyways, I'll see you all soon!