Chapter Twenty Five

As most people have learned by now, Berk is a rather small island in the middle of nowhere. So when the islanders get a taste of something new, they tend to go a little overboard. Unfortunately, that isn't always good.

Everyone was standing around the docks, looking at the sea expectantly. A ship was headed in our direction. Apparently someone important was about to arrive on the island. I didn't have much time to ask who the stranger was, because everyone had rushed over to the docks.

"Trader Johann is here!" Bucket yelled from his fishing boat, he than fell into the ocean as the ship sailed past him.

"So, who exactly is this Trader Johann?" I asked skeptically. Everyone looked at me like I was some kind of idiot. I only folded my arms until Hiccup realized I hadn't been around for that long.

"Oh, right…. Sorry," he muttered while rubbing the back of his hair in embarrassment. "Trader Johann is a seafarer who visits the island from time to time," he explained. "He offers all sorts of goods for trade."

Okay, that would explain why everyone was gathered here. I was curious as to what this Trader Johann guy would have. Maybe he'd heard of the man Alvin was talking about during their escapade. Or he might have something that I might be interested in.

Once Trader Johann had made port, he set down a plank so that everyone could get on board and see what he found this time. He stood on a crate so that everyone could hear him. "Whatever it is you're looking for, I can assure you that I have it!" he yelled. Everyone charged down the docks and started rooting through the crates and boxes.

"It's all mine! I call dibs on everything!" Snotlout announced as he rushed in.

"I've got food of all sorts," Johann started saying. "Spices, exotic animals, works of art, and jewelry. Not to mention knowledge."

"Trader Johann, is this your only book on Botany?" Fishlegs had been digging through a crate until finding what appeared to be a large book. Johann gave him a look of amusement.

"Yes, Mr. Fishlegs, why, it was given to me by the author himself!" he explained with a smile. Fishlegs than pulled out a necklace and dangled it in front of Johann's face.

"How about this?" he asked with a hopeful look. "It's made with dragon's teeth."

"Fair enough, Fishlegs." Johann snatched it almost instantly as Fishlegs scampered off. While everyone else was admiring the 'treasure' and goods that Johann had found, I started wandering around to see what he had.

Most of it was stuff I had no interest in. A few unusual looking chickens were put in a cage, along with some cattle I'd seen in picture books. For the most part I really didn't see anything that I thought was worth the wait. That was when Trader Johann approached me.

"Aye lass, find anything that peeks your interests?" he asked, genuinely curious. I eyed the stuff around me skeptically as more of the villagers started bartering his merchandise.

"Do you have anything dragon related?" I asked warily. Maybe asking about those people wasn't such a good idea. Johann looked at me in surprise before nodding. He disappeared below deck for a few minutes before reappearing with something in his hands.

"This, me lass, is something I found during my journey to Berk," he explained before revealing the object. "I had to fight through a horde of dragons in order to get it, so I hope you have something worth trading."

"Let me see what you have first," I said while folding my arms. Johann chuckled until noticing my serious look.

"Smart girl, I'll give ya that," he muttered while showing what he'd been hiding. My eyes widened when I saw that it was a necklace; the end was carved of some kind of stone. But what really caught my eye was the fact that it was shaped in the wing of a dragon. I couldn't really tell what dragon it was, but I did like it.

"Hm…." I stared at the necklace, all the while a few other Vikings had stopped to barter with Johann, whose eye started twitching as he waited for me to say something. "Alright, what do you want for it?" I asked carefully.

"What've you got on ya?" Johann watched me carefully as I pulled something out of my pocket. It was kind of a risky move, but I figured that no harm would come out of it. The object in my hand was actually a scale. A White Terror scale to be more precise. Snowfire had dropped it a day ago and I thought of how pretty it looked in the sunlight. Johann's eyes lit up at the sight of the scale. "Beautiful," he marveled while trying to reach out.

"Ah," I pulled it away just as he was about to grab it. "Necklace first." Johann gave me a scowl before quickly passing the necklace. I tossed him the scale shortly after and looked at the necklace itself. "Thank you."

I turned just in time to see Stoick holding up another sword.

"Wow, another sword," Hiccup muttered as I walked past. "Just what we need."

"If you must know, it's not for me," Stoick explained with a roll of his eyes. "I'm heading off to my yearly meeting with the Chief of Shivering Shores. That man that last came without a gift left without a head." I laughed as he accidentally cut the head off of a figurine. He then turned to Johann, showing off the sword. "Johann, what will you take in trade?"

"Stoick, it is but your good graces that I desire when my humble ship visits Berk," Johann replied with a bow. I only rolled my eyes.

"You're always welcome on the shores of Berk," Stoick bellowed heartily. "I'll be back in five days," he added as he walked off the ship. "What am I saying? I'll be back in two, thanks to Thornado." He mounted the Thunderdrum waiting just off of the docks.

"Ah, you finally named him," Hiccup said. "Thornado huh?"

"That's right! 'Cause he has the power of Thor and the ferocity of a tornado!" Stoick replied. Thornado kept squirming as if he was eager to get going. "And besides, it's the only thing he'll answer to. Turns out he's quite stubborn!"

"Gee, I can't imagine where he gets that from," I muttered under my breath.

"Up Thornado!" Stoick commanded. Thornado let out a roar and took off, soaring high in the sky.

"Ah, men riding dragons," Johann marveled with amazement. "What a magnificent sight." Snowfire than jumped down from the cliff and landed on the beach, startling Johann from his trance.

'Did you find anything interesting?' she asked as I approached her casually. I patted her on the head with a smirk before showing off the necklace. She gave it a curious sniff before snorting in annoyance. 'That trinket has no value to me!' she said with a growl.

"But it does to me," I replied while putting it on. It really did look pretty, and I was glad Johann had traded it. Snowfire only hummed in amusement before I climbed into her saddle and she took off.

...

We had reached the Dragon Academy just in time to see Tuffnut setting something up. I narrowed my eyes thoughtfully when I saw that it was a new statue.

"How does it look?" asked Tuffnut as he looked up at the tall stone statue.

"Beautiful!" replied Ruffnut as she admired it.

"You got that just for the academy?" Hiccup's voice came from behind. I did have to wonder why the twins would enjoy decorations. Most of their time was spent destroying things rather than giving them some kind of appreciation.

"Yeah, we got it from Trader Johann," Tuffnut explained with a nod. "We have to give him our great-grandfather's skull. We got to keep his clavicle." What was a clavicle? I really didn't know that much about medical stuff, even though my mom worked shifts at the hospital. She never did teach me anything she had learned.

"Wow! You know, it's about time you guys started taking some pride in this place," Hiccup praised them. Something told me that the statue wasn't for decoration.

"Duck!" Tuffnut suddenly yelled.

"What?" Hiccup barely had a chance to respond before Tuffnut pulled him down as Barf and Belch launched a fireball at one of the statues. The statue staggered only a little bit. I was surprised it didn't blow up the second their fire hit it.

"That was awesome!" Snotlout exclaimed. "I wanna take a shot!" He quickly jumped onto Hookfang's neck. "Fire!" he commanded. Hookfang quickly shot a fireball at the statue; it did only did the same thing.

Astrid was eager to do some target practice with Stormfly. She signaled her Deadly Nadder to fire her spikes, and Stormfly did as she was told. Spikes were hurtled at the statue, landing above one another in an almost straight line.

"That was awesome!" she said with some excitement. Toothless and Snowfire were eager to try it out as well.

"Wanna try freezing it?" I asked as she stood over me. Snowfire simply nodded in response before trying to fire a shot of ice, only to sneeze. Toothless had tried doing the same, and his sneeze ended up nearly roasting Snotlout. Snotlout screamed as he tried dodging the blasts.

"That's strange," Hiccup remarked.

"Yeah." I rubbed Snowfire's snout as she made a soft crooning sound. "You okay, Snow?" Instead of getting a response like usual, she just stared at me blankly. "Something's wrong; I can't hear her thoughts."

"Maybe she's had enough with you," Astrid suggested with a shrug. I only glared at her before Snotlout finally spoke up.

"Hey! Could you two have your dragons cover their mouths when they sneeze?" Snotlout demanded in an angry voice. Then again Snotlout always sounded like that. I don't think it's possible for him to have a gentle side, unless one counts the times he's alone with Hookfang.

"I'm sorry," Hiccup apologized. "But that's never happened before." He glanced at both Toothless and Snowfire. Snowfire was very similar to a Night Fury. It could be possible that if Toothless was sick, than maybe she had gotten the same sickness. Snowfire only snorted and rolled her eyes at our concern, while Toothless looked at us sheepishly.

"I wonder if they're sick?" I asked. But they didn't sneeze fire or ice this time, and seemed okay. I was still worried though when Snowfire didn't speak to me. She only made a crooning sound before gesturing towards the gate, as if asking to fly around for a bit.

Luckily we did just that after Astrid went off to fly on Stormfly. Everything seemed perfectly fine as we flew around the island. Maybe I was worrying for nothing and Snowfire was just tired. Or she was annoyed with something I did. Wouldn't be the first time she was annoyed and didn't say anything.

"Look at those flowers!" Astrid suddenly pointed out a bush of flowers we were approaching. "They're beautiful." My heart nearly skipped a beat when both Toothless and Snowfire started acting strange again. Both dragons started to falter in mid-flight, startling us both. "Whoa! Hey, what are you doing?" Astrid demanded as the two of us almost collided with Stormfly.

"Do you really think I'd want to crash into you?" I snapped while trying to keep Snowfire calm. Something was definitely wrong here. She didn't usually falter in her flight unless she was startled.

"It's not me!" Hiccup added. "Uh, okay, Toothless," he said nervously. By now Toothless' flight was becoming unstable.

It was like something had suddenly possessed both dragons as they lost focus. Their struggle to stay airborne was really starting to scare me. I had almost forgotten about what happened in my world until now, and it only brought back painful memories.

"Brace for impact!" Hiccup shouted as we both started to crash. Once the dust had settled Hiccup checked to make sure Toothless was okay, while I was still struggling to stand up. "Toothless, are you alright?" Hiccup placed a hand on Toothless' snout as he crooned in response.

I checked on Snowfire shortly after, getting the same reaction. "I wish you could tell me what was wrong," I sighed as she pressed her forehead to mine. She wasn't hurt, but I could feel that something wasn't right.

"Maybe he and Snowfire have colds or something," Hiccup suggested warily. "Do dragons get colds?" I helped Snowfire back to her feet and shook my head.

"I don't know," I admitted with a shrug. "I've never seen anything like this."

"Whoa!" Astrid jumped off of Stormfly as she landed nearby. "Look at that!" She was pointing to a Terrible Terror who looked just as sick as Toothless and Snowfire. "Well, whatever it is, looks like he got it too."

I gently picked up the little dragon before stroking it's spines carefully. "Poor little guy," I murmured sympathetically. "We need to bring them to Gobber, I'm sure she'll have something that can help them. If worse comes to worse than we'll need to consult with Gothi." Hiccup nodded in agreement before returning to Toothless' side.

"Okay, come on Toothless, time to get you back to the house," Hiccup coaxed Toothless forward as the Night Fury stumbled towards him on weak legs. Snowfire slowly but surely did the same while I held the Terrible Terror.

It took us longer to get back on foot, especially with two sick dragons slowing us down. Not that I didn't mind. I was just as worried as Hiccup about Snowfire. She hadn't spoken to me once since this morning.

Luckily Astrid had gotten Gobber to pay us a visit. He came back to the Haddock house with a remedy in his hand. I eyed the cauldron skeptically when I saw the look the dragons gave him. Clearly they were not going to enjoy this.

"This'll fix 'em right up," Gobber proclaimed.

"What is it?" Hiccup asked warily.

"It's best not to ask," he replied. "And whatever you do, don't touch it." He set the cauldron with a vile-smelling green goop down. Toothless and Snowfire sneezed all over and splashed Gobber with it. "Well, that's ruined! I'll never get that yak to vomit again."

"There was yak vomit in that?" I nearly yelled with a horrified look. Hiccup was ready to ask the same thing when Astrid suddenly came bursting in, looking more worried than anything else.

"Hiccup! You've gotta see this," she breathed out. I rolled my eyes when she didn't bother saying my name. Hiccup took no notice of it though as he left the house, with me following shortly after. What we saw next stopped us in our tracks. Snowfire and Toothless weren't the only sick dragons around here.

"Easy, easy! Whoa!" Snotlout hollered as Hookfang flew around in lazy circles.

"Help her, Hiccup and Alex! She's sick! Whoa, and I'm about to be!" Fishlegs gulped; his face started turning pale as Meatlug had trouble flying straight. The twins on their Zippleback flew right past, yelping as Barf and Belch took wild turns they usually didn't.

"Hiccup, what are we going to do?" I asked when I realized that the sickness was spreading fast. "Even I don't know about healing sicknesses." Hiccup looked just as afraid as I felt and was looking for an answer. Suddenly Gobber spoke up from behind us.

"Gothi! She'll know what to do!" Gobber went off to fetch the elder while we looked after the dragons. I looked around in time to see Spikes struggling to stand on his own feet. Without a second word I rushed over and scooped him up as Barf and Belch nearly crashed into him.

"It's okay," I reassured him as he started shivering in my arms. "I've never seen it this bad," I murmured with a shudder. Then again I haven't been around for that long. But I hated seeing anyone sick, especially when it came to the ones I cared about.

Gobber returned moments later with the elderly woman. Gothi went to work immediately looking over Toothless. Snowfire had put up so much of a fuss that we had to hide her in the house for now. But as Gothi started checking Toothless over, all of us gathered to discuss the issues concerning our dragons. All the while Hiccup stayed by Toothless' side to make sure she didn't hurt him, or the other way around.

"I've heard Gothi can tell when you're gonna die just by looking at your fingernails," Astrid murmured. Fishlegs' eyes widened in horror before he quickly put his hands behind his back.

"Ah, that's an old wives' tale," Gobber told them, then smirked at Fishlegs when his tongue was sticking out. "She looks at your tongue." Fishlegs than looked at Gobber before putting it back into his mouth.

Gothi stood up and hobbled over to her staff so that she could scribble into the dirt. Apparently that was the only way she could communicate. I wasn't sure if she was mute or if she just chose not to talk at all. Either way it did kind of creep me out.

"She says the dragons are reacting ta something," Gobber explained as she scribbled down random words. Random to me, but oddly enough everyone else could read them. "Like they're allergic."

"Allergic to what?" Hiccup asked while kneeling next to Toothless. Gothi kept scribbling in the dirt while Gobber squinted his eyes to see and read slowly.

"To… a moose… wearin' boots. Shouldn't be too hard to find," Gobber said. Then Gothi whacked him in the face with her staff and scowled at him. "Don't think that was right," he muttered while rubbing his jaw.

"Let me try," Hiccup suggested. Luckily he was able to read the scribbles as well, "they're allergic to something new that just came on the island!"

"I still think that looks like a moose," Gobber muttered. Gothi rolled her eyes and whacked him over the head again.

"Well, there are a lot of new things on the island," I pointed out. Everyone started looking nervous as I went on, "that Trader Johann guy was just here." Gothi nodded and started writing again.

"She says ta get rid of everything immediately," Gobber read in a grim voice. "Otherwise things are gonna to get worse. The dragons are going to get sicker."

All I could think of was making sure that everyone was okay. There was no way in hell I'd let anyone die today, not if I could help it.

...

Later that day, we were all gathered at the edge of a cliff overlooking a pit. We'd dug it up earlier before the villagers started to line up. Everyone had the stuff they bought from Trader Johann. I was reluctant to get rid of the necklace I bartered off of him, and it looked like I wasn't the only one.

"I know, this is hard, guys, but I promised you you're doing a good thing," Hiccup assured everyone staring at the pit reluctantly. "You're helping out the dragons."

"It's the least we can do for them," I added.

"Goodbye beautiful," Snotlout sniffed as he looked at his mirror. Then he threw it into the pit with everyone else.

"What are you doing?" Ruffnut demanded, glaring at Fishlegs as he started flipping through the pages in his book. "Throw it in!"

"I'm sorry, but this botany book is a real page-turner!" he explained. "I have to know how it ends!"

With a grunt, Ruffnut tore it out of his grasp and threw the book into the pit. Fishlegs let out a sob as he watched the book sank down into the pit.

"Well, so much for holding on to this," I muttered as I took off the necklace. Once it was tossed into the pit we all looked at Gobber expectantly. "I don't see you throwing anything in," I said in an accusing tone.

"And I thought I saw you buy something from Trader Johann?" Hiccup added while glaring at him accusingly.

"He did it! He bought the silk!" Astrid said, walking up to us.

"Hand it over, Gobber," Hiccup reached out with a hand.

"Can't do that, Hiccup," Gobber told us. "It's uh, currently under use. It's me skivvies. They're glorious!" I tried not to smirk at the expression on his face.

"Gobber!" I said, glaring at him.

"Fine!" Gobber sighed in frustration before walking over to a boulder. Seconds later and a pair of purple underpants went flying out and into the pit. Gobber than walked out and pulled up his pants, whistling as though nothing had happened.

"I could have gone my entire life without seeing that," Hiccup muttered.

"You and me both," I nodded in agreement.

...

During the following morning I woke up to find that Snowfire wasn't in much better condition. I let out a sigh and knelt down to check her temperature. It had felt off yesterday when we were in the field of flowers, but seeing her now only made me feel more worried.

She barely moved a muscle as I stood back up.

"Don't worry girl," I murmured as I rubbed her back. She was curled up on the stone slab, with Spikes resting nearby. He hardly moved since I brought him back here. "I promise that I'll find out who did this. And when I do, I'll let you bite their head off."

To my surprise she actually moved a little at that. I let out another sigh before heading out to see how the others were fairing. Maybe someone had discovered the reasons behind the dragons getting sick. Or once again my hope was just wishful thinking.

"We got rid of everything from Trader Johann," Fishlegs fretted once we were all gathered. "But our dragons aren't getting better, they're getting worse!"

"Yeah, Snowfire could barely move this morning." My voice was barely a whisper. It was weird not having someone to talk to during the night. Having Snowfire by my side had become almost a habit. And a good one at that.

"Let's make a list," Hiccup said while counting his fingers. "Maybe there's someone who bought something from Trader Johann and hasn't thrown it into the pit," he suggested.

"Yeah, there must be someone who didn't give up something they bought," Astrid said, shooting me an icy look.

"Why are you glaring at me?" I demanded angrily. "I gave up what I bought, Hiccup was right next to me the whole time."

"She's right on that one," Hiccup added. Astrid only narrowed her eyes before looking away in annoyance.

"If I find out who's done this, I'm going to be so mad! Hookfang was so sick last night. I was up all night scraping dragon barf off our walls!" Snotlout was seething with frustration as he leaned against said dragon.

"Yeah, well ours is dead!" Tuffnut said. Astrid gasped and we all stared at him in horror. "Just kidding. But he isn't that fun anymore." He looked at the sleeping Barf and Belch as if to prove a point. I only rolled my arms at the remark.

"He just sits there! He doesn't blow anything up!" Ruffnut added. There was a sudden roar as Stoick and Thornado returned at Hiccup's house.

"Hiccup!" Stoick called once he landed. "Put this in the Book of Dragons: 'Never fly on a stomach full of undercooked mutton.' The Shivering Shores will never be the same." That was when he noticed something was wrong. "What is it, Hiccup?" he asked in a voice full of concern. "What's wrong?"

"It's the dragons, dad," Hiccup explained. "They're sick."

"And getting worse," I added.

"Every dragon? Even Snowfire?" Stoick looked at me in surprise as I nodded.

"Yeah, every dragon…. I wish there was something I could do about it," I said.

...

I was sitting outside on my steps while letting Snowfire get some rest. She was so sick that she had slept for most of the day, and was still fast asleep. Things were starting to look grim as even Thornado let out a loud sneeze.

"Sneezing, that's the first symptom," I heard Hiccup say. Stoick had to pull him aside when Thornado sneezed. The force of it was strong enough to send a sonic boom across the plaza.

"But he was just fine until we got back!" Stoick said. To my surprise he was actually worried about Thornado. The Thunderdrum was laying on his side, looking more pitiful than anything else.

"We should retrace your steps," Hiccup suggested, and Stoick nodded in agreement. I stood up and quickly made my way to where Stoick had landed. Much to my surprise the others were gathered there as well.

"Well, this is where I landed," Stoick said, looking around.

"Maybe we should try looking for anything out of the ordinary," I suggested with a shrug.

"Does that count?" Fishlegs asked, pointing. All of us looked in that direction to see the twins crouch onto all fours, than leap at each other, their helmets crashing with a loud clang. What the heck was wrong with those two?

"I'm seeing stars!" Ruffnut said.

"No way, me too!" Tuffnut added.

"Hmm, nothing unusual here," Astrid said. Then she noticed that Hiccup was staring at something. "What is it?"

I had noticed it as well. It was faint, but loud enough for me to recognize the call of a Terrible Terror beyond the twins. I peered over Fishlegs' shoulder in time to see it sniffing a bush full of blue flowers. The same ones we had landed in when our dragons got sick.

We walked over to investigate the unusual plant. I've actually always appreciated nature, but from a safe distance. But even I knew something was odd about these flowers. The leaves were broad and covered the entire plant. The flowers were blue, darkening into my favorite color, purple, at the edges, with five petals and a white center.

"Does anyone remember seeing these flowers before?" Hiccup asked, picking one for everyone to see.

"Actually I did see them yesterday before we crashed," I admitted guiltily. "I didn't think much of it because I thought that's where they belonged."

"And they were here when I got back," Stoick added.

"It looks an awful lot like a Blue Oleander," Fishlegs said while looking at the flower curiously. "I recognize it from my botany book, chapter eight."

"Is there anything specific you can remember from it?" Hiccup asked.

"They're very pretty, very soft, perennial, and…." Fishlegs' face turned from a look of fascination to dread. "… and very poisonous to reptiles," he finished.

"Which means poisonous to dragons!" I gasped in realization. Fishlegs dropped the flower in horror.

"This is serious," Hiccup added. "Did your book say anything about a cure?"

"I don't know," Fishlegs replied. "I didn't get to finish because somebody made me throw it in the pit."

"Well than we have to dig it up!" Hiccup ordered. Fishlegs than ran over to the pit and started to dig it up.

"I don't understand," I murmured while looking at the flowers. "Where did these flowers come from?"

"Mildew," Tuffnut replied. We all turned to look at him in surprise. "I saw him plant them the other day," he explained with a shrug.

"And you didn't think that was strange?" Astrid demanded.

"No!" Tuffnut retorted. "Well, maybe…. I don't know! Quit pressuring me!" he yelled, turning away uncomfortably.

There was a loud sneeze from Thornado, that sent the Oleander leaves flying, even from this distance. "Then let's go pay the old man a visit, shall we?" Stoick suggested.

We wasted no time in reaching Mildew's house. I stood next to Hiccup as Stoick pried out Mildew when the old man refused to answer the door. He really did have to make things worse, didn't he? Of course he would be behind the dragons getting sick.

"So what if I planted a few flowers?" Mildew protested once Stoick was finished interrogating him. "The town's square never looked better! I was merely trying to spread beauty and happiness."

"Since when do you care about happiness?" I demanded, folding my arms and glaring at him.

"You did this," Hiccup said in an accusing tone.

"I… what…." Mildew stuttered, clearly outraged at the accusation. "I had no inkling, Stoick, that these flowers had special properties. Now it's no secret that I'm no friend to the dragons, but in this case, on me life, I was not trying to harm them."

"I'd sooner believe that pigs fly than believe your story," I snapped. Mildew's glare became icy as he looked at me.

"And we never did find out who blew up the armory," Hiccup put in with a glare of his own.

"You have no proof that I did it," Mildew retorted.

"Let's go," Stoick ordered. As we started walking out of the house, I noticed that Mildew was smirking triumphantly.

"Ah those poor dragons," he said with a grin.

As we made our way back to the forge, my fists balled up with anger. I knew that Mildew was the one behind this. We just didn't have enough proof. If I could I would've let Snowfire bite his head off right than and there.

Fishlegs had entered the forge just as we got there, gasping for breath. I didn't miss the fact that he had found his botany book either, much to everyone's relief.

"Fishlegs, you found your botany book," Hiccup said in a voice full of hope.

"What does the book say?" I asked. Fishlegs was gasping for breath, and it didn't take long for us both to realize that he was hyperventilating. "Calm down," I said slowly. Fishlegs swallowed and took a deep breath before finally speaking again.

"My botany book says that the Blue Oleander is poisonous to reptiles!" he nearly shouted. The tears on his face made me roll my eyes; that was something we already established. "Dragons are reptiles!"

"We know, Fishlegs! Was there anything else?" Hiccup asked, obviously feeling exasperated. Fishlegs was still hyperventilating but managed to calm down enough to talk again.

"Not in here!" he replied, closing the book. While he was holding on to his book, I noticed the Book of Dragons and picked it up. There was something that could be useful in here, but I couldn't quite remember exactly where I found it.

"Isn't there a dragon that feeds on the Blue Oleander?" I asked while flipping through the pages. Finally I stopped at the Scauldron. I placed the book on a desk as everyone gathered to read the info.

The Scauldron was a Tidal Class dragon. It was huge with a whale-like body, a round belly and snake-like head. In all it reminded me of the Loch Ness Monster. It had a pelican-like pouch under it's jaw, and it's wings and tail reminded me of a fish's fin.

"If it eats the flowers than it's possible to make an antidote," I explained. "But does the Scauldron have venom?"

"Aye!" Gobber joined us right at that moment, walking up to the desk where I had the book placed. "I've dealt with Scauldron's before. They're sixty feet long with razor-sharp teeth! They shoot boiling water ta melt the flesh of your bones! The Scauldron has no fear, no conscience, but what it does have is venom, and lots of it!"

"Well, I'd say that's convincing enough," I said after closing the book. "Who's ready to fish up a dragon?"

"I'm out," Tuffnut said, walking away.

"I'm with him," Ruffnut added.

"You guys stay here and take care of the dragons," Hiccup told them. "Just try and make the comfortable."

"Be careful with Snowfire," I put in with a smirk. "She might accidentally mistake you for Mildew." The twins exchanged anxious looks before shrugging.

"What are you two going to do?" Fishlegs asked nervously.

"Dad, Gobber, let's go find ourselves a Scauldron," Hiccup said while looking at them.

"I thought you'd never ask!" Gobber exclaimed with a smile.

I quickly returned to my room so that I could get ready. Snowfire was still laying on her side, her breathing faint. I placed a hand on her shoulder before taking a deep breath. This wasn't going to be easy, especially when we tried coming up with an antidote. But I wasn't going to let her or any of the dragons die.

"Everything will be fine," I reassured her in a soft voice. "I promise."

Snowfire stirred only a little as I picked up a few things. I'd managed to find a knife that I could defend myself with and hid it where only I would find it. Seconds later I made sure that everything else was in order before heading to the boat.

What I saw next caught me by surprise. Stoick had forced Mildew on to the ship, along with a pile of Blue Oleander flowers. I tried not to smirk as Gobber blocked the only exit Mildew had.

"But this is an outrage!" Mildew complained as I got on board. "I dug up the flower, I did my part!" But Stoick only folded his arms and glared at Mildew.

"We're all out here because of you, Mildew!" he snapped. "If we have to put our lives at risk, than so do you!" The glare Mildew gave him almost made me laugh. If it was me leading the village, I would've slugged him right than and there.

"You have no proof, Stoick!" Mildew retorted. "You can't blame me for every time something goes amiss with your precious dragons!" Stoick wasn't swayed as Mildew glared him in the eye.

"You know, I wouldn't want to be on the island right now if I were you," I piped in with a grin. Mildew turned to glare at me this time.

"Oh, and why is that?" he demanded.

"Well, because everyone had to throw away all of the things they got from Trader Johann," I began. Mildew's face fell when realization dawned on him. "And they might not be too happy knowing that you were the cause of that."

"Alright Stoick, what's your plan?" Gobber asked while holding on to a bucket. Stoick turned so that he was facing both me and Hiccup.

"Hiccup, when Gobber and I secure the Scauldron's head, Sven will wedge it's jaw open. We'll need you and Alex to—"

"To drain the poison into the bucket, got it," Hiccup finished with a nod. "Let's get started." I nodded in agreement before rushing over to the ledge in order to drop the sack of Blue Oleanders into the ocean down below.

"This is what the Scauldron likes to eat," I murmured almost to myself. "Hopefully it'll draw them in like sharks to chum." I shuddered at the memory of watching documentaries on sharks. Worst two hours of school I'd had.

Hiccup had put down the bucket and helped me pour the flowers into the ocean, watching as they floated under the boat. Hours seemed to pass and nothing had happened. Of course being stuck on a boat with the old man I practically hated didn't help.

"This will never work!" Mildew started complaining again. "This was a stupid idea to begin with!" Hiccup looked like he was ready to smack Mildew upside the head, and I couldn't blame him.

"Easy you two," Stoick suddenly scolded when he noticed the glares we were giving. "That's not why we're here." Technically the bastard is the reason we're here.

"But that is," Gobber said, pointing down to the water. We all looked down in time to see a luminous green-blue monster swimming around just below the ship.

"Scauldron!" Stoick breathed. It's tail broke the surface just behind the boat with a rippling, splashing sound. Then it's head rose above the surface with an eerie sound that was similar to that of a humpback whale.

"I may need to change my skivvies again," Gobber muttered nervously.

"We need to lure the Scauldron on deck!" Hiccup cried while spreading the flowers everywhere.

"Oh that's just great, get it on ship where it can eat us all!" Mildew yelled.

"We could just throw you overboard," I suggested. Thankfully Mildew fell silent after that.

"Gobber, you secure it's neck with this," Stoick ordered while tossing him a rope. "I'll lasso it's horn!" The two men ran over to the bow of the boat, ready for anything.

What we weren't ready for was it to suddenly disappear. A full minute went by before we all started to get nervous. I feel like something like this happened right before an attack. Sea creatures were known to be ambush predators, especially sharks and dolphins.

"Where did it go?" Gobber asked.

The next few minutes had gone by the same way. But suddenly Sven's (another Viking we had taken with us), ore was taken away and dragged into the water. My heart nearly skipped a beat when something rammed into the ship.

"Everyone hold on to something!" Hiccup shouted. I was quick to grab hold of a pole as the Scauldron hit the boat again. This time though it was thrown into the air for a few seconds before landing with a mighty crash. Water whipped up on the sides of the boat as waves were picked up from the Scauldron's passage.

I held back a cry of shock as we were all thrown to the deck. As Mildew picked himself up, the Scauldron's head popped out of the water. The moment Mildew saw it he started screaming and scrambled to his feet so that he could run away.

The Scauldron rose higher above us, holding on to the ship with it's legs. It's legs caused the ship to sway violently, and we all began to lose our balance as the incline increased rapidly.

"Hiccup, I gotcha!" Gobber said as he grabbed Hiccup with his free hand, while his hook latched on to the wood. As I came tumbling past I grabbed Hiccup by the foot, careful not to hurt him.

As the Oleanders were scattered everywhere, the Scauldron started to eat as many as it could. It was amazing that a dragon could actually eat those things without getting sick.

"Gobber, here's our chance!" Stoick yelled. He and Gobber slid down towards the Scauldron, then snagged its horn and neck, and finally dragged it onto deck. It screeched in response. It's body started to slip down into the water, giving the boat a chance to right itself.

The Scauldron had managed to temporarily overpower Stoick and Gobber. It retreated into the water, but was quickly pulled back on deck, which caused the ship to level out. The Scauldron tried returning to the water, but Gobber and Stoick used all of their strength to make sure that it stay put.

"We can't let that dragon get back into the water!" Stoick shouted as he and Gobber pulled at the ropes. "Sven, we need that barrel now!" The Viking in question quickly ran towards the Scauldron's snapping jaws.

"I've got the bucket!" I called while grabbing the bucket.

"Careful, Alex!" Stoick shouted once again. "You don't want to get that venom in you."

"Yeah, no kidding!" I snapped. The Scauldron suddenly let out a roar, and Sven used the opportunity to throw a barrel into its maw. The Scauldron growled in frustration when it couldn't close it's mouth. But just as soon as the barrel was thrown into place, the Scauldron managed to crush it with massive force.

"Sven, watch out!" The Scauldron had started to raise it's tail while Sven was still standing there, gaping in shock. The tail swatted Sven into the air, and moments later he sank into the water. The tail vanished for a moment, before reappearing seconds later right behind us. "Son, Alex, watch out!"

"Dad!" Hiccup cried out when the Scauldron brought it's tail to the mast. Stoick grabbed it without hesitation, managing to trap the Scauldron's tail.

"I've got the tail!" Stoick told us.

"Hiccup, Alex, grab Stoick's line!" Gobber ordered.

I put down the bucket and grabbed the rope still dangling from the Scauldron's horn, Hiccup doing the same. We pulled down with as much strength as we could muster.

"Pull it in! Use the mast to wedge it's jaw open," Stoick added. Finally we managed to pull it up towards the mast. The Scauldron's mouth was trapped by a thick piece of wood. Mildew suddenly found himself getting uncomfortably close to both sets of it's sharp fangs. "Mildew, grab the bucket!" Stoick snapped as Mildew stared on in horror.

"Hold on," Mildew began to protest, "it's one thing to—"

"Grab the bucket or I'll throw you overboard myself!" Stoick yelled furiously. He was hanging on to the mast with all his strength while the rest of us did the same. And let me tell you, this wasn't easy. My muscles were already screaming in protest.

Mildew grumbled under his breath while reaching for the bucket, but before he could get closer, steam began to escape from the Scauldron's mouth.

"Everyone take cover!"

We all dropped our ropes and hid ourselves behind a stray shield. Mildew rushed underneath an empty crate as the Scauldron released boiling water from it's jaws. The scalding hot water had washed over everything in front of it, but luckily no one was caught in it's path.

Unfortunately for Stoick, the mast snapped and he fell into the water. Hiccup tried to run over but Gobber stopped him just in time. The ropes holding the Scauldron suddenly snapped, and of course everything went from bad to worse as Mildew took one look at it. The Scauldron let out a fearsome roar that sent Mildew screaming and running around the boat like he was the insane one.

I tried not to smirk when I noticed a Blue Oleander stuck to Mildew's pants. The Scauldron had noticed it as well and licked it's lips. Without warning it lunged down and snapped it's jaw around his rear. Mildew howled in pain and fell to the floor while I struggled to hold back a fit of laughter. Once the Scauldron had enough it sank back into the water, taking with it our only chance to get the venom.

"It's gone," Hiccup murmured as we reached the bow of the ship. Gobber helped Stoick back up when he was climbing the side of the ship, looking more relieved than anything else.

"And you can bet that the last place he'll be is this ship," Gobber added as he and Stoick joined us.

"We didn't get the venom," Stoick added.

"Actually, Mildew has some of the venom in his butt," I said, much to my chagrin. Hiccup smirked as Mildew howled in pain, clutching his rear end.

"Get this poison out of me!" Mildew screamed.

"Oh, we will," Hiccup promised as I laughed. Mildew just looked at us with a look of alarm when he realized what Hiccup meant by that.

...

It was later that night we arrived on Berk. We were all gathered outside listening to Mildew scream in pain as the venom was taken out of his sorry ass. I was struggling not to laugh, mostly because the stress of today had finally gotten to me. Knowing that Mildew was in that amount of pain was more reassuring than I realized.

"Can you believe we're just standing out here waiting for something to come out of Mildew's butt?" Tuffnut asked. His eyes held a spark of mischief in them as we all waited eagerly for the antidote.

"That's the sound of our dragons getting better," I said after catching my breath.

"Are you actually enjoying this?" Astrid asked with the slightest smirks.

"Hey, considering what the asshole did to our dragons, he deserves every bit of this punishment," I replied.

A few more minutes of this had passed before Gobber emerged from the forge. His face was full of disgust as we all looked at him expectantly.

"I've got the antidote!" Gobber exclaimed after emerging from the forge. Everyone cheered and let out sighs of relief. Then he shuddered as memories of what just occurred took place.

"I've watched a Nadder's spine slice right through a man's eyeball like a grape, I watched me own hand get devoured by a Monstrous Nightmare. But never, never have I ever seen anything so disturbing as that old man's behind!" Gobber made a face like he was about to throw up. "I'm going into the forest to scream."

"Way to take one for the team, Gobber!" Hiccup called as he left.

I spent most of the night making sure that all of the dragons on the island had gotten the antidote, along with Snowfire and Spikes. It was an exhausting night, and I practically passed out right than and there. But Snowfire had started to stir, hummed in amusement when her eyes opened.

'It is good to see you, little hatchling,' she crooned happily. I breathed out a sigh of relief and rested a hand on her head.

"I'm glad you're back," I whispered while grinning from ear to ear. Snowfire weakly brushed her tail across my hair, and I couldn't help but laugh at the sight. For once, everything seemed right.

...

The next day, Spikes had woken up as well and was already making his rounds. Snowfire regained her health faster than I expected and was back on her feet. Life was back to normal, for now.

A deadly flower, a venomous flower, and Mildew's ass. Three things we thought we'd never have to deal with in one day. But I am willing to do anything to keep the dragons safe, even if it means risking my own life.

AN: Ah this chapter was so much fun to write. I apologize if there are any mistakes I made, I tend to speed type when it comes to writing stories XD

silverwolvesarecool - She really does :) And I'm not sure, I would guess that it was, either that or some type of iron... They never really specified in the show.

69759 - Haha, I'm glad that someone got that reference :P And those sound like some pretty cool dragons. Definitely wouldn't wanna meet them in real life XD

HYTTD Obsessed - Thank you, I'm glad you're enjoying it so far :) And yep, Snowfire is technically Alex's dragon, though she would never go so far to admit it. And who knows? It took Astrid and Hiccup forever to actually get together, so I'm not entirely sure :P

Cutie Kyuubie - XD Sorry about that ^^ I usually write up to two chapters a day and wait to post the next one until the next day. Amazingly my fingers never complain about it ;) But yeah, I enjoyed this episode too. Hiccup definitely has some low self esteem issues that need to be smoothed out in the future.