And it's back ya'll! Another chapter of Rise of The Dragon Riders! Hope I didn't keep many of you waiting too long cause I was supposed to post this last night but well, the end just didn't want to be written. Anyway, the main piece of the story is officially in full swing and that means the story is about to hit it's climax! Yeah! Hope ya'll have enjoyed the ride and to be honest, I'm not sure how many more chapters are going to come out of this, but I do know it's end is in sight!... maybe... I'll figure it out. =^-^=

Ch. 28 - Storm Fight


Hiccup looked at the small dragon like figure dancing through the sky and firing lightning with a grim expression. He knew what that dragon was and just how dangerous their situation just became. "It's….. a Skrill."

Mathias gave him a worried look. "And that means?"

"It means we have a problem." He turned to see even Astrid holding worry in her eyes, something that she reserved usually for Hiccup.

The King looked at the two seemingly terrified dragon riders. "You ride dragons, tame dragons, befriend dragons….. can't you do that with this Skrill?"

Hiccup shook his head while keeping his gaze focused at the sky. "Skrills are very aggressive dragons, and they seldom even tolerate each other's presence let alone a human one. They absorb the lightning from the clouds and can store it and even fire it at will. They hunt wrapped in the lightning and your best bet for not getting killed is to stay away from one."

Mathias furrowed his brow at Hiccup's uncharacteristic statement. "Don't you normally go all for taming dragons?"

"Not this one."

Astrid traded glances with Mathias and then motioned him to push. "Why?"

After some hesitation Hiccup answered without looking their way. "I was shot down by one."

Astrid's jaw dropped at that. "You mean like out of the sky right?"

He nodded. "I found one a few days before I met Bo'mar for the first time. I was taking shelter in a cave to wait out a lightning storm when I heard something drop from the sky. When I went to check it out, I saw a Skrill embedded in the ground with a tree on top of it. Of course my first thought was caution, at least until I noticed it had 3 arrows in its gut. I had Toothless help me drag him into the cave and I was able to get the arrows out before he woke up."

He fell silent prompting Astrid to prod for more of the story. "And after it woke up?"

"It didn't wake up until morning. I had just gotten my things together and was about to check on it when it snapped awake and went berserk. I tried everything I could to get it under control until it started firing it's lightning bolts. I cut my losses and escaped on Toothless, or at least I tried to. It was still storming out side and the rain made it hard to see. Before I knew it, it was in front of us and a crack of thunder is all I heard before Toothless lost control and we fell out of the sky." He placed his hand over his side. "I've never made direct contact with one since. One scar is enough in my book." He finally broke his gaze off the sky and heaved the doors open wider. "Dad!"

Sure enough it was Stoick the Vast running up as fast as he could with Gobber and Snotlout in toe. "Hiccup!"

They ran through the doors as fast as they could and Snotlout pinned them shut as if for dear life. "We're all dead!"

Gobber shook his head at the young teen. "Stop over reacting. I only said we may be dead…. Eventually."

Hiccup interrupted their exchange. "What is it?"

"Well, we followed along with the men who left with that wonderful aroma. It was strange cause I thought I'd smelled it before. I remembered when I started hearing the screams of course. It's a snaptrapper."

Astrid and Hiccup both sighed. "You've got to be kidding…."

"He's not kidding, the Book of Dragons said that it used a pleasing aroma to lure out its victims… I just didn't think it would be something so odd."

Gobber scratched his head. "You're tellin me. Of course I didn't get my head together until I noticed the towns folk gathered up as well. That's when it dawned on me and the only people I could get to listen were Stoick and Snotlout, well after dragging him a little ways anyway."

Hiccup began pacing a bit in thought. "So we have a Snaptrapper and a Skrill….. great. Anything else to ruin this lovely day?" And like any other karmic statement something happened.

A sound started to rise among the men and the King called for a silence. "Silence!" He paused for a moment and the men he quieted started to look around the room in paranoia. "What's that sound?"

Mathias cupped his ears and listened hard just as a few others were doing, Hiccup included. "It sounds like something's crashing…..?"

"No Hiccup… I think it's a tornado." Mathias' expression was growing wild. "And by the sound, I think it's headed our way."

All eyes turned to Snotlout who immediately caught on to what they wanted. "I don't care if Odin himself wants to get through here. These doors are not moving!" After a little physical coercion, he was convinced to move and they were able to confirm their suspicions.

"Odin help us…." That was all that could escape the King's lips as he and the others stared in awe at the small army of tornadoes on the dimly lit horizon.

"There's no way….. this is impossible." Mathias was vigorously rubbing his hands on his head. Bo'mar finally decided to speak, as the only one not completely thrown by the sight.

"Mathias is right. It is impossible."

Hiccup turned to the old man who had Balimund at a loss for words at his statement. "What do you mean by that?"

He gave a small laugh and looked at the boy in a playful manner. "Now Hiccup, do you really believe these tornadoes are natural?"

Hiccup turned to the outside and then back to Bo'mar. "You…. You don't mean they're…."

"Exactly."

He groaned in exhaustion and continued to pace. "So we have a Snaptrappar, a Skrill, and an army of dragons that can make tornadoes… Somebody kill me!"

"Dragons can do that?!" The king pointed harshly toward the oncoming column of tornadoes.

"I don't know but if Bo'mar says so then I guess they do! I've never seen a dragon that could do this before!" Hiccup was nearing his wits end as Astrid moved in to calm him down.

She grabbed both of his shoulders and held his gaze with her own. "You need to calm down Hiccup. I know all the pressure has riled you up but we need a plan, and you're the one who knows the most about dragons."

After a moment he took a deep breath and seemed to calm down. "You're right."

"Of course I'm right. Now what can we do about this situation?"

"I don't know about the Snaptrapper or the Skrill, but I think I can do something about the dragons causing the tornadoes." All eyes were now on Mathias as he spoke in confidence.


"Are you sure you two can do this?" Hiccup watched as Mathias geared up on Nightshades back.

"Are you kidding? Nightshades' specialty is flying in storms." "My clan was built for this due to Mediterranean storms."

"But its winter! Tell me you have experience flying in a winter storm!"

Mathias tied his waist sash around his head for protection. "We can handle this Hiccup. You guys need to do something about the other dragons. As long as those tornadoes are caused by dragons, I'm sure me and Nightshade can do something about it."

He took off in confidence before Hiccup could get another word in. "I only hope he actually knows what he's doing."

Astrid pat his shoulder. "Well he might dive in recklessly sometimes but Nightshade knows better than to dive too deep." Hiccup then turned to the intently listening crowd of warriors waiting in anticipation. "Alright, given that Mathias can do something about the tornado dragons we still have a Skrill and a Snaptrapper to deal with. First of all, the Snaptrapper is a fear class dragon and it has no fire at least as far as we know. That makes Stoker class our best bet to take it down."

The King raised his brow. "Stoker Class?"

Hiccup rummaged through the bag on Toothless' saddle and pulled out the Book of Dragons. He opened it up to the Stoker class entry page. "Stoker class dragons are power houses. They are hotheads and can usually wield a wide range of fire attacks. I think we should use that to our advantage in taking out the Snaptrapper because they mostly rely on stealth and their size. Of course Hookfang and Balrog are not even close to as big so I'm really only hoping that we can take down the lead dragon before it can eat too many of the people it lured away."

A man question Hiccup from the crowd. "Lead Dragon?"

"One of the dragons is leading the others. Once we kill that one, the rest of the dragons will disperse."

"And what if the Snaptrapper is the lead dragon?"

Hiccup hesitated to answer. "Let's just hope it's not…."

A small silence fell through them but was broken by Astrid. "I don't think it is, I mean, don't the leaders come right out and fight?"

"Good point lass, I'm betting on the sparky one."

"Alright, now for the Skrill, me, Astrid and Balimund are going to try and take it down. A fight with a Skrill is going to require speed and precision, something easily found in a Night Fury and two Nadders."

"Aye lad! Sparky's goin down!" The smithy was more than pumped at getting his chance to fight.

"And what about us?" Stoick wasn't about to be left out of this planning, but of course Hiccup hadn't forgotten them.

"You are all going with Snotlout and Bo'mar to fight the Snaptrapper. While the dragon's keep it busy, you can try to get as many towns folk out of danger as possible." The warriors stood up almost all together and many drew their weapons.

The King was more than driven himself as he took his new blade from one of his servants. "Alright then, it's time to fight back. What do you say men?" They yelled in compliance as they followed the king through the doors of Fhjol hall.

"Good show Hiccup. You just need to stay calm up there." Bo'mar pat his shoulder and then moved through the doors with the other men where Balrog was waiting.

"Yeah, cause you get some decent backup." Snotlout was talking to Hiccup but glaring at Bo'mar as he went.

"Actually, that lava guardian could easily give Hookfang a run for his money. Balrog took out a Grapple Grounder not too long ago." The teen rolled his eyes at Hiccup and then continued on his way.

"Alright lad, let's take off!" Balimund was already on Loki's back and headed for the doors.

Toothless let out a low growl to signal Hiccup to get on. He seemed a bit impatient as he watched Astrid leave before them. "Alright bud I'm coming." He hopped on Toothless' back and they followed the rest out of the hall.


Hiccup was leading the three of them through the sky, being sure to keep an eye out for stray lightning strikes. "If anyone feels their hair start to stand up, say something. That means it's close by."

Lightning struck to their right they banked in that direction. "Geez where is this thing?" Astrid was becoming impatient as they flew around in search of the dragon.

"I know lass. These clouds are too perfect for Sparky to hide in."

"Aren't they though?" The foreign voice set the riders in immediate defensive mode as they searched around for the source. A beam of lightning shot through their formation and they scattered. "Humans are such fools." The Skrill flew up through the hole he made and met eyes with Hiccup and Toothless. "You dragons are even bigger fools for allowing said fools to ride on your backs." The Skrill was solid black in color to match that of Toothless and had a white mark upon it's leg.

"Where's the Wight Death!?"

The dragon laughed. "Impatient are we? As you were told before he will come find you, but not until he is good and ready. Do not worry though, it is almost time." The Skrill then shot out a lightning blast just missing Hiccup.

"Shit, that dragon is fast!" Balimund had Loki come around and he shot a blast of fire at it. The Skrill dodged and flew up, hiding himself among the clouds. "These clouds just make too perfect a cover for that dragon."

"But they made good cover for us too, right bud?" Hiccup and Toothless took off after it, leaving Astrid and Balimund to wait. It seemed like hours went by in the few minutes it took for the Skrill to appear again.

"Behind you lass!" Stormfly wasn't able to completely dodge as the lightning coming off the dragon became attracted to Astrid's ax. Balimund charged forward and broke the connection as Loki hailed spines on the Skrill.

Astrid was breathing heavily as she composed herself from her electrocution. "Damn it!"

"Shake it off lass, he's coming again!"

"It's not that easy!"

A Fury blast broke the Skrill's charge and the dragon quickly turned to find the source. "Where are you hiding boy?!" His search was interrupted by a sharp pain in his side. He turned to the one responsible for the gash and caught a glimpse of her just in time to be hailed by the Nadder's spines. A few of them lay embedded in the body of the Skrill as it cried out in pain. "This will not stop me humans!"

He launched another shot of lightning at Astrid, with this one missing entirely due to Balimund striking him with his Hammer mid blast. The Jolt the smithy received was sudden and left him a bit disoriented. "Wow! You're right lass, that was crazy!" Anther pulse blast was shot, this time from below.

The Skrill didn't shake this hit off as he began to fly unevenly. "Damn humans! You will all fall to the might of the malice striker!" Another pulse blast was shot from above it and that forced the dragon to finally fall from the sky.

"There it goes lass! Finally sparky takes a fall!" His happiness turns to confusion as he turns to see the reason as to why Astrid had no words for him. "Lass?" He flew up close to the wild mannered Stormfly and saw just why she was acting so wild. "Lass!" Astrid was unconscious on Stormfly's back. "Hiccup! You're gonna want to get over here!"

Hiccup didn't have to move far once the clouds started to disperse. "Astrid!?" Before he had time to even reach her another dragon appeared and seemed to be manipulating the clouds. As the clouds became thinner he saw more of them. "What's going on?"

"They are helping us out." The two of them turned to see Mathias and Nightshade approaching with more of the mysterious dragons.

"They are very reasonable dragons." Hiccup then continued over to the unconscious Astrid still on Stormfly.

"I think it was the lightning. She got hit with a bit of it earlier, but she seemed to be fine enough to throw her ax at the beast."

Hiccup tried to get as close as possible before Astrid finally slid off the Nadder's back and he caught her out of the short fall. "She's still breathing at least, but we need to get her down to the ground." Hiccup then turned to Mathias and Nightshade. "So what exactly happened?"

"It's a bit of a tale so let's wait until this whole mess is cleaned up first."

"I agree, we should make sure everyone is accounted for before we start going over everything. The Tempest will get rid of the storm clouds they brought and then they will join us on the ground."


Back on the ground Hiccup and the others reentered the hall to find it already almost full again. The King was taking a head count with several of the other village heads. "If anyone you know is missing be sure to let one of us know. We need to make sure of our numbers before we go out again!" The King then noticed the Return of Hiccup and even Mathias. "I suppose the Skrill has been taken care of then?"

"Yes it has, but Astrid got hit with some of its lightning."

The king beckoned him over to him. "Then we shall take her with the rest of the injured."

One of the king's men came forward to take her from Hiccup but he wouldn't hear of it. "I got her, just tell me where." The man guided him out of the hall through the left hall.

Balimund was taking a good look around. "I guess we should go round up the others now. Sparky was in charge and he's as good as dead now."

"Not until we are sure. My men will be taking another party to try and get some more of the town's people. Everyone else shall stay here until I can get some confirmation that it's indeed dead."

Balimund scratched his head. "Well if he's melted like the last one then I won't find much but I'll go look anyway. The lass is going to be needing her ax back." Balimund then took off again for the land beneath their fight with the Skrill. "Damn dragon couldn't have fallen too far out of the way."

Half an hour of searching gave him next to nothing as the decreased cloud cover did little to light his way with only the moonlight to light the ground. "It has to be long gone by now, but where did the ax go?" He finally spotted what looked to be a fallen tree from the sky and decided to land and check it out. "He fell pretty far out of the way." He followed the upturned dirt trail until he found the Skrill he was looking for. "Haven't melted just yet?... You still alive?"

The dragon made no moves to show it was so Balimund tried the first thing he could think of; he poked it with his hammer. "Go away human! Let me at least die in piece!" Balimund looked over the pathetic sight. It was bleeding out the most from its side where the ax still lay embedded in its flesh.

"Afraid I can't do that." He pointed to the ax. "The lass is gonna want that back you see."

The Skrill glared at him in malice and turned and yanked out the ax. He threw it at the man with what strength he could muster and spoke one last time. "Not much good it'll do her now. Father will be pleased."

Then the smithy watched as the dragon slowly melted away before him. "The lass is much stronger then you think Sparky." With that he left on Loki to rejoin his friends at Fhjol hall.


And that's the chapter. I tried to leave this on a good note and not a big cliff hanger but it would be ridiculously long if I didn't end it here, so sorry about that. Hope you enjoyed the Skrill fight and I'll post a picture of the unknown dragons a bit later along with some concept art for Wight Death, Spike Shredder and Scorch. I appreciate all who bother to look at them. Until next time! Remember to Review!=^-^=