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How to Train Your Dragon

By Thora Diana Haddock

Chapter 29: Release the Red Death!

After three days' time, the fleet had finally arrived at the fog barrier surrounding Dragon's Nest. Midnight was only given the minimum amount of food and water to survive the journey ahead. However, it did nothing to dampen his will to fight the metals bonds that bound him to the board.

The ships enter the thick fog and everyone guard was up instantly, knowing that dragons could attack at any moment. "Sound your positions, and stay within earshot." Stoick ordered. The men followed suite, exchanging words no louder than a whisper.

"Um, Stoick, I was overhearing some of the men just now, and some of them were wondering, what it is we are up to here." Gobber said carefully, knowing the chief wasn't in the mood for ill-chosen words, "Not me of course, I know you're always the man with the plan. But some, not me, were wondering if there is in fact a plan at all, and what it might be." The plan is find the nest and take it!" Stoick answered, not even looking at Gobber. "Oh, of course, send them running, or in their case, flying." Gobber stated, "The old Viking Fallback, nice and simple."

Stoick shushed Gobber when he saw the sleek black dragon's appendages vibrate and make strange noises. It was almost as if something was calling him. Abruptly, Stoick pushed passed the men on the ship and grabbed the rudder to steer the ship. Then Midnight lifted his head and turned it to the right, Stoick in turn, steered the ship to the right. And when Midnight turned his head to the left, Stoick steered the ship to the left. Little by little, Midnight was leading the men to their doom.

Back with the Sky fire Fleet:

Since time was racing faster and faster against us, we push the dragons to the fastest they could go. "We're pushing the dragons way too much!" Fishlegs exclaimed, holding tight to Meatlug, "If we keep going like this, they drop to the ground in exhaustion!" "We have no choice! They can already be at the nest by now! We have to get there as fast as we can!" I exclaimed and then said a small prayer, "Gods please, protect my father and the men of our village until we get there!" Hopefully, that prayer will reach the gods and will be answered.

Back with the Vikings:

Midnight continued to lead the men to the nest, and along the way they saw several ships hanging over the jagged rocks. "Oh, I was wondering where that was." Gobber said as they came across a familiar ship. Stoick carefully steered the ship through the maze of rocks, bumping into old ships along the way.

Then Midnight started to thrash in the bonds frantically. "Stay low, and ready your weapons!" Stoick ordered, taking the dragon's behavior as a warning that the nest was close. Then the ships hit the shoreline.

Stoick left the rudder and went up to the front of the ship. I front of them was a tall mountain and strange sounds can be heard in the air. Out of the corner of Stoick's eye for a split second, it appeared that a Monstrous Nightmare's tail was hanging out of a hidden cave. "We're here!" Stoick said as a smile of triumph spread across his face. At long last, he will destroy all the dragon once and for all. He jumped out of the ship and suddenly the sounds stopped. Something big was definitely going to happen.

Back with the Skyfire Fleet:

The dragons were flying as fast as their wings can carry them and were about to run on empty any minute now. Luckily, the wall of fog that covered the island was in sight. "This is it, guys!" I exclaimed, "The time has come to set those trapped in the chaos of war free. Either, this battle will be won, or we die trying!" "How about we not?" Fishlegs asked nervously at the mention of death. However, we didn't listen as they flew into the fog and into the battle.

Back at the Dragon's Nest:

When the men landed on the shore, they began to set up the catapults and carved logs into spikes, placing them around them as barricades. "When we crack this mountain open, all chaos will break lose." Stoick stated as he drew a plan in the sand to explain to the other Big Shot Vikings. "And my undies, good thing I bought extra ones." Gobber stated feeling nervous, earning an eye-roll from Spitelout. "No matter how this ends, it ends today!" Stoick exclaimed as he raised his hand and made a fist, signaling the men to fire the catapults at the walls.

With the force and density of the large boulders, the side of the mountain like an egg. Cautiously, Stoick walked up to the hole with a hammer and shield in hand. He stared down the down hole and signaled with his hand holding the hammer to the Vikings at the catapults. One of them lighted the debris on fire and shot it through the hole, revealing hordes of dragons along the walls of the tunnels as it flew in.

Then with a loud battle cry, Stoick led the charge. The dragons spread their wings, however, something weird happened. They just flew pass Stoick and the other Vikings as they swung their weapons, trying to strike the creatures as they flew, but to no avail. When they flew into the sky, Midnight pinned his ears back for the foreboding feeling in the air.

"Is that it?" Gobber exclaimed, expecting more, but he just shrugged his shoulders, "We did it!" The Vikings threw their weapons in the air in celebration of their unexpectedly easy victory on vanquishing the dragons. But Stoick thought their victory was too easy. He looked over to where their prisoner of war was and noticed that he was trying to break out of the binds more than before, as if he was trying to get away from something. That's when it hit him. "This isn't over! Form your ranks! Hold together!" he ordered.

Then suddenly the ground started to shake and the sides of the mountain began to crumple. Sensing something was coming, Stoick jumped out of the hole and dodge the falling debris. "Get clear!" he ordered the other Vikings. They followed suite and ran away as fast as their legs can carry them.

"Great Beard of Thor! What is that?" Gobber exclaimed. The Red Death had burst out of the side of the mountain. "Odin, help us! Thora was right!" Stoick said under his breath in absolute shock.

The Red Death roared in triumph of its freedom from that volcanic prison and the chance to scorch the world. "Catapults!" Stoick ordered. The men fired the weapons on the great beast, but they had no effect on it. Angered, the Monster crushed the catapults injuring men as it did.

"Get to the ships!" A Viking yelled, "No!" Stoick exclaimed, knowing that it wasn't the best course of action at the moment. Then the monster lifted its head and burned the ships with its fire. The men still on the ship managed to jump overboard into the water, but Midnight wasn't. He was still bound to the ship, just struggling to escape as the fire swiftly approach him.

"That went well!" Gobber stated sarcastically. "I was a fool! Thora was trying to tell me, but I was so mad, I didn't listen when I should have." Stoick berated himself. "You never really listened to her before." Gobber added.

"Lead the men to the other side of the island!" Stoick ordered Spitelout, who follow through, "Gobber go with the men." "I think I'll stay, just in case you're thinking of doing something crazy." Gobber said, not wanting to leave his friend. "I can buy more time by giving that thing something to hunt!" Stoick argued as he tried to head toward the beast, but Gobber stopped him in his tracks. "Then I can double that time." Gobber insisted. Stoick didn't argue further as he knew that his friend was just as stubborn as he is, if not more.

"Here!" Stoick yelled, trying to get the creature's attention. "Oh no, Here!" Gobber yelled in effort to confuse the creature. Stoick grabbed one of the barricade spikes and threw it at the Red Death's head. That turned the beat's head towards the chief. "Come on! Fight me!" Gobber yelled to get its attention. "No! Me!" Stoick yelled. Not sure which one to go after first, the Red death decided to burn them both.

But before it could do so, something blasted it from the back of the head, which puzzled the Vikings there. Then six dragons came from behind the gigantic creature. Then a voice came out nowhere. "Ruff, Tuff! Watch your backs!" the voice said. The dragons turned their bodies to reveal Tuffnut, and Ruffnut on the Hideous Zippleback, Snotlout on the Monstrous Nightmare, Fishlegs on the Gronkle, and Thora and Asgerd on the Deadly Nadder. "Move Fishlegs!" Thora exclaimed as a leader.

Stoick could only mouthed the word 'what' as he saw the sight before him. "Hey look at us! We're on dragons, all of us!" Tuffnut yelled to the Vikings below, who looked at the young warriors on the flying serpents with more amazement then confusion. "Every bit the boar-headed stubborn Viking you ever were at that age." Gobber stated to Stoick as she led the others on the dragons. Stoick could only nod in agreement as he started to realize that his daughter was more like him than he originally thought.

"Fishlegs, breakdown!" Thora said as they circled around the giant's head high above it. "Alright! Heavily armored skull and tail made for bashing and crashing, stay clear of both." Fishlegs analyzed as the monster continued to wreak havoc, "It has small eyes and large nostrils, so it must rely on hearing and smell.

"Alright, Lout, Legs! Hang in its blind spot! Make noise to keep it confuse and the gas to sedate it. And don't forget to use the headgear to protect Meatlug and Hookfang from the effects." Thora ordered. "I'm not sure that that's a good idea." Fishlegs said, concerned. "Don't worry, Snotlout will give us the advantage, because he'll be using his greatest strength." I said. "What, my looks, my raw strength?" he asked in overconfidence. "Your Obnoxiousness." I answered, which Snotlout Grumble under his breath.

"Ruff, Tuff! Find out if it has a shot limit! In other words, make it mad as you can!" Thora ordered. "No problem, that's my speciality!" Ruff exclaimed. "Since when, everyone knows I'm more irritating. See?" Tuff stated as he turned Belch's head upside-down and made crazy faces at his annoyed sister. "Would you just do want I told you! And if things get ugly, use the arrows and spears. I'll be back as soon as I can!" Thora said as she steered Stormfly to find Midnight. "Don't worry, we got it covered!" Snotlout said as he and the others went to their positions.

The twins flew to the dragon and made their most annoying faces and their most annoying one-liners. "Fool!" Tuff said, "Butt Elf" Ruff added. "Bride of Grendel!" Tuff added. That last comment really hit the mark as the creature began to fire at the twosome on the lone Zippleback.

Fishlegs and Snotlout covered their dragons' ears and mouths with the masks that Thora made. Then they slowly released the gas around the Red Death's face, and banged their shields with their weapons as hard and as loud as they can. Then Fishlegs relieved two nasty surprise staring right at him. "Thora, we have a problem! This thing doesn't have a blind spot." he exclaimed as he continued to try to detract the creature.

As Thora and Asgerd flew over the ships to find the black dragon, they heard a familiar cry. "There!" Thora exclaimed as she saw her friend. She steered the Nadder to the burning ship, moved to give Asgerd lead of Stormfly, and jumped onto it. "MIDNIGHT!" she exclaimed as she ran up and hugged the dragon around his neck in relief, and in turn, the dragon rubbed against the young girl, affectionately.

Composing herself, she released her scaled friend and turned towards Asgerd. "Go help the others, I'll be okay!" Thora ordered. Reluctantly, Asgerd nodded and flew back towards the battlefield. "Okay! Hold on! I'm going to get you out." She said as she managed to get the muzzle off of Midnight and started to work on the sturdier binds.

After several minutes of banging and releasing the gas, the Red Death was starting to feel the effects. "It's working!" Snotlout exclaimed. "Yeah, it's working!" Fishlegs exclaimed in agreement.

However, as Snotlout was banging his shield, he accidently knocked off Hookfang's mask. That made the red dragon vulnerable to the noise and gas. Feeling dazed, Hookfang crashed into the side of the giant's neck and that knocked Snotlout out of the saddle, onto the Red Death, and dropping his weapons in the process.

Meatlug also collided with the side of the beast and had her gear knocked off. "I lost power on the Gronkle!" Fishlegs exclaimed in terror, "Snotlout! Do something!" just before Meatlug dropped like a fly, Fishlegs tossed his hammer to Snotlout, who thankfully caught it. The bulky little dragon swerved back and forth and landed on the ground. "I'm okay!" Fishlegs exclaimed, but then Meatlug flipped over to her back and Fishlegs was squished underneath, "Less okay!"

The Red Death saw the little pests in its sight and lifted its paw to squash them into the gravel. Fishlegs saw the foot coming towards them and scrambled to get away but kept slipping on the pebbles. "I can't miss!" Snotlout exclaimed as he began to hit the hammer in the Red Death's two upper eyes, "What's wrong, Buddy? Got something in your eye?" the Red Death roared in annoyance and stepped away from Fishlegs and Meatlugs, sparing them.

"Yeah! You're the Viking!" Asgerd said. "Of course I am!" Snotlout said in too much self-confidence. Caught up in the moment, Snotlout forgot about the Dragon. The creature reared its ugly head and made Snotlout drop the hammer, leaving him vulnerable, hanging from its coral like horns.

The beast turned around, with its tail facing the boats. It knocked over the mast from one of the boat and landed in front of Thora and Midnight. The back paw stepped on the ship they were on and flipped the platform Midnight was on into the sea.

As the bounded dragon sank to the bottom, Thora swam towards the black dragon and effortlessly tried to break the chains underwater. But it was no use, Midnight kept jerking his head towards the surface, as if to tell Thora to forget about him and get to the surface. But Thora would not abandon her friend, and she struggled with the chains until she could no longer hold her breath and she began to sink to the bottom.

Then a large hand grabbed her by the back of her collar and dragged her to the surface. Midnight roared in panic for his friend. When Thora was pulled to the shore, she coughed up the sea water she breathed in, and blinked to clear her vision to see a sight which baffled her. "Father?" she said as Stoick dived back into the water.

Midnight was on the verge of unconsciousness and death soon after, but then the Hooligan chief swam up to him. Midnight was perplexed, was the large human coming to finish him off, when the water could have done so? But Stoick grabbed hold of the bonds that held Midnight in chains and broke them, releasing him. Despite the shock of what he did, with all the strength in his hind legs, Midnight push on the sea floor and shot out of the water.

Midnight dropped the chief on the shore next to Thora and perched himself on a rock and shook the water from his body. He saw that the dragons fighting the Red Death need help. He turned towards Thora and grunted as if to say 'Come on! Let's go help!' "You got it, Buddy!" she said and she ran up to him and put the armor she made for him on. And then jumped into the saddle to prepare for battle.

"Thora!" Stoick exclaimed as he grabbed her by the wrist. Thora looked at him with shock and confusion, was he angry that she was riding a dragon, or that she was interfering in this battle. But what came out of his mouth was something else. "I'm sorry…for everything." he said with his upmost sincerity. "Yeah, me too." Thora said, knowing she said and did things that hurt him as well.

"You don't have to go up there." Stoick said with what seemed like fear to her. Which was a first to Thora. "I'm the daughter of a Viking, and just like a Viking, it's an occupational hazard." she said getting back at him with one of his favorite sayings. Stoick put his other hand on top of her hand as if to give her support and sincerity. "I'm proud to have to as my daughter and I could never have asked for a better one." he said. Trying to fight back the tears of joy for hearing what she had always wanted to hear from him, she gave him a satisfied smile. "Thanks Fath…" she almost said, but then she call him what she hadn't called him in years, "Thanks, Papa!" Then with a mighty flap of his great black wings, Midnight and took off in the air to join the battle as Stoick looked up with pride at his little girl who had become a warrior in her own right and the great black steed she had trained and befriended.