Unbreakable

The middle of a war is not the best time for one boy to discover that he is not unbreakable. Sequel to 'Starlight, Star Bright'.

Chapter 21: Be Careful

A/N: SURPRISE

Yes, this is the surprise. Updating all of my eighteen in-progress fics at once. It was pretty crazy, but I did it, and it's here, and good day to you all! I had tons of fun doing this, so I hope you guys have tons of fun reading this!

Anyway, BLAEGGHHGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG LET'S PRETEND THIS CHAPTER DOES NOT EXIST OKAY GOD IT'S PURE FILLERRRRRR

The purple Nadder started pining for Eret, watching the skies in worry as if expecting the man to hurtle suddenly down from the clouds and land on Berk's shores. I could tell that the dragon wanted to go after him, and I didn't protest; it would take us a few days to find a breed suitable for Dad, to train the dragon, teach him how to ride, and get everything settled and ready for his departure. I wanted Eret back just as much as the Nadder did, and nobody else knew the dragon personally; the absence went unnoticed.

According to Fishlegs, they had a book on all the different dragon breeds, a fact that surprised me. An island that killed dragons wouldn't have researched the different types; at least, that's what I thought. When he reluctantly handed it off to me (he didn't seem to want to let it go long enough for me to take it) I flipped it open and felt a wrenching in my gut that had nothing to do with the chicken I had just eaten.

There were detailed descriptions of these dragons, their weaknesses, their strengths, ways to kill them and weapons that worked best against them. The sight made me feel sick and angry, made me want to throw the book in the ocean. Yet the pages had useful information scrawled upon them, information that even I hadn't previously discovered. Dad and I spent the time reading up on the different breeds, debating which one would be best for him to take to Outcast Island. Toothless stayed close by my chair, seemingly on edge and slightly jumpy, but for what reason, he wouldn't say.

"You know, I've never even heard of some of these breeds," I said thoughtfully as I turned the page. "I've heard of the Whispering Death, but never the Screaming Death. And I've never even seen a Timberjack or a Typhoomerang."

Dad gave me an odd look. "I'd expect you to know all of these breeds, and beyond, Hiccup. You are an expert on dragons, aren't you?"

I flushed, glancing back down at the page. "Honestly, I'm not even close. I mean, there are a few breeds that I've met that are missing from here – Speed Stingers and Seadragonus Giganticus Maximus…Flightmares, that's also a good breed, but they're incredibly rare and our chances of catching and taming one of them in a couple days are very slim. It took me months to build a bond with a Flightmare – they love their freedom too much to feel loyalty towards humans or other dragon species."

Dad didn't say anything, and I didn't get to see his expression; I had started reading the page I'd landed on, and it turned out to be pretty interesting. "The Thunderdrum does sound like a pretty good bet, but they're a bit like Flightmares, honestly, and they prefer water to land or air. We could try a Seashocker, but they're not very trustworthy when it comes to serious situations, they like pranks more than missions, most of them."

"What about the Skrill?" Dad ventured, gesturing to the dragon riding a thunderbolt up on the corner of the page.

"They, um, I don't know if they could handle your weight, either, no offense. Also, they ride lightning bolts. If you want to be riding an electric current instead of a dragon the whole way to Outcast Island, then have at it. I think a Thunderdrum or a Scauldron is your best bet right now, but a Thunderdrum is best. Scauldrons are slow fliers and they can only be in the air for about an hour at a time before they have to go underwater again. So, unless you could handle being randomly submerged in the ocean…"

He chuckled, even though I wasn't joking. "A Thunderdrum it is, then!"

"Are there even any around this island?"

"Plenty," he nodded, taking the book from my hands and closing it gently, setting it aside. "As far as we know, they seem to enjoy colder temperatures, because we get loads of them every winter. Summer's nearly on the island, so there won't be quite as many…"

I wasn't even sure that a Thunderdrum was the best bet, by that point. What were we going to do? Throw raw fish in the water and hope the dragon came up? Of course, I knew that seadragons rarely ever ate fish; they played with the fish, as casually as if they were both the same species, and they were horribly offended if you ever expected them to eat it.

I wasn't even certain what the Thunderdrum ate, but I knew it was some type of meat, and they liked it bloody. This was not going to be pretty.

I was right. It wasn't pretty. In fact, it was so not pretty that I couldn't even decide what the un-prettiest part was. It was a dead tie between Gobber insisting that Thunderdrums came up only if you disturbed them, and insisting on banging an axe upon a shield for several long minutes, resulting only in a very annoyed Scauldron that tried to burn him with a mouthful of boiling water; me discovering that Thunderdrums, unlike land-dragons, did not like dragon nip; or Dad, in the end, losing his head completely and throwing a net over the Thunderdrum until we were safely back on dry land.

Turned out, there was something called the "Kill Ring" on Berk, and that was where we ended up taking the Thunderdrum, depositing him in one of the cages.

"Sorry," I apologized guiltily as we shut the door on him and pulled out the Dragon Book once again, to look up everything we could about Thunderdrums.

There wasn't really much useful information within the pages about training a dragon, actually, so I made the executive decision that hands-on training would help.

"Are you sure?" Gobber pressed.

"I know what I'm doing," I assured him, walking over to the door of the cage and preparing to unlatch it.

"That's what you said about the dragon nip," Gobber quipped.

I glared at him. "I know what I'm doing now," I emphasized, unlocking the cage door.

The Thunderdrum sprang out, roaring angrily at us, his mouth open, his teeth bared. I stayed where I was, staring him down, waiting for his rage to subside. He seemed particularly agitated about Dad, turning his eyes upon him.

"Hey, it's okay." I bent down so I was eye level with the dragon, whispering soothingly, trying to talk quietly, but also make myself heard over his roaring.

"Be careful." Dad cautioned quietly.