Iron-Mantis: Sure thing.
BloodBendingDancer: Yep! Go, Shadow!
We finally escaped from the prison and ran through to hide behind large rocks. There were a few dragons in the area that were growling and squeaking. Hiccup and I looked at Mildew.
"What's the quickest way to get to the dragons?" Hiccup asked.
Mildew looked around, "Through that lava field." He pointed his staff at the area where the wild dragons rested.
"Let's go." I said. Me and Hiccup were about to run off but Mildew's staff flew up in front of us.
"Ah, you do realize those are wild dragons down there?" He asked.
"Yep." Hiccup said then we continued onwards. We approached the area with a few grumbles from Mildew. A Monstrous Nightmare fought with a Deadly Nadder over a bone. Gronckles growled at each other for invading the others personal space.
"Well, come on then. Let's go." Hiccup said and we jumped up to continue walking.
"Uh, let's not." Mildew said.
"We know what we're doing Mildew, just stay behind us." Hiccup said then continued onward.
Toothless ran through the pathways to search for Hiccup and the others. He turned down one path to see Outcasts coming from one side. They lifted their crossbows.
"There's one of the Night Furies!" One said. Toothless growled and looked behind to see more Outcasts coming. Toothless growled again, more frustrated than anything this time but his ears perked at something.
A Night Fury divebombing noise. The screech rang through the air and fired at one of the groups, sending them flying back. Toothless gave an excited growl to see the fellow Night Fury that swooped in to his side with a smirk.
Toothless fired at the Outcasts on the other side and send them flying back just as Shadow did. He turned back to the fellow Night Fury and trilled softly, Shadow returned it. The two suddenly perked their ears at the men's shouting and ran off together to search for their riders.
We attempted to walk through the lava field, all of the dragons stared at us. Mildew kept whimpering as more and more dragons watched us. The last one we passed was a Deadly Nadder that stood in front of us; wings outstretched and growling.
Mildew was about to swing his staff at it but I grabbed it and threw it away. "No, Mildew!"
"The last thing you want to do is threaten him." Hiccup said.
"Me? Threaten him?" Mildew asked.
"We have to show him he can trust us." He said and approached it. "Don't worry, we aren't here to hurt you." Hiccup stepped to the side of the Nadder and with a growl of approval, he petted its side. "That's it, fella."
"Very impressive." Mildew said. The Nadder jumped at him and examined him. Mildew cried out in fear.
"Really, he's just getting to know. They can sense fear so be relaxed." Hiccup said.
Mildew was standing up straight and extremely tense. "This is relaxed." He said; strained.
The Deadly Nadder nudged him playfully with its head, the other looked a bit more skeptical. "See? He want to be friends." He said. "Isn't that nice?"
"Got plenty of friends." Mildew said.
"Name one." I said. He was silent. "Exactly."
"We're going to need a way to get past those guards at that dragon pit." Hiccup said. "And I think we just found it."
"Eh, wha?" Mildew asked. The Nadder suddenly licked him, forcing an uncomfortable whine out of him.
Toothless sniffed about on the ground at the footsteps littering the area, Shadow staring at them and following them to the cells with Toothless right behind him until he walked face-first into a knocked-out Outcast that woke up, saw him growling and whimpered.
He ran into one of the open cells and closed it, "A Night Fury, with my own eyes." He gasped. Shadow smirked back at Toothless, Toothless smirked back and nodded. Shadow roared at the man with his wings outstretched, making the man cower in fear. When he looked back up, Shadow huffed at him harsly and smoke blasted from his nostrils and into the man's face. He ran off with Toothless through the prison.
"Remember, dragon training begins and ends with trust." Hiccup said. "Both of yours." He took Mildew's hand and placed it up on the Nadder's nose then quietly murmured incoherant things. "Now, climb on."
"Huh?" Mildew asked with raised brows.
Hiccup climbed on the Nadder with ease, Mildew began to mutter again and after a failed attempt of climbing on, he finally pushed himself up. "Wow. Uh, Mildew on a dragon." Hiccup said; grinning.
"It'll take some getting used to, that's for sure." I said.
The Nadder began to shift its weight around. "Eh, why's it doing that? What's happening?"
"It's okay, it's okay, it's okay." Hiccup kept repeating to soothe him. "He's just never had people on him before." He spit in his hand, "A dragon's hide is dry, you moisture from your hands will soothe him." The Nadder squawked gently in pleasure.
Mildew spit in his hand and rubbed the Nadder too. I began to look around.
"Al, what are you doing? Get on." Hiccup said.
"I think it'll be safer if we have more than one dragon in the group. The more, the merrier." I shrugged. "Go ahead, I can have the dragon sniff you out."
Hiccup thought it over, "Fine just promise me that you'll be safe."
"Promise." I grinned.
"Okay, good. Let's go." He said. The Nadder took off flying but I could still hear Hiccup for a bit. Mildew latched onto him. "H-Hey, okay. Uh, you know, there's a lot of dragon here, Mildew. Why don't you grab some of that?" I heard that and it made me utter out a soft laugh.
I looked around for the dragon I could use that would be very well performing in battle, I examined them then stopped when I heard two Night Furies cry out into the night.
I cupped a hand next to my mouth and growled loudly, I heard a growl again then a black figure flew through the air and tackled me to the ground lovingly. I looked at it in slight shock, "Shadow! Hey, bud!" I hugged him tightly. He purred then I heard something else land next to me, I glanced over to see Toothless.
Shadow got off me and I went to hug Toothless. He welcomed it and gave a gentle purr. "Hiccup will be so happy to see you both alright!" I said then my eyes widened. "Hiccup." I climbed onto Toothless and hooked my foot into the stirrup. "He took off to find you guys in the dragon cells. We've got to get him."
Toothless growled in approval, Shadow just growled. We flew into the air and flew to follow the scent of Hiccup. "Shadow, if you can, fly ahead and search them out to stop them from going any farther. They're on a Deadly Nadder." Shadow growled in acknowledgement and dashed ahead. "We'll get him, Toothless. Don't you worry."
He sniffed through the air and when he saw a far off Deadly Nadder swoop down, he perked his ears up and growled as he focused in on the area the Nadder swooped down to. He flew quickly toward the area and did a dip down to where they were, he saw the opening to the dragon cells and growled.
He looked back for his rider and Toothless but after not seeing them, he turned his attention back to the dragon cells. He cautiously entered, making sure that no Outcasts were ready to jump out at him and once he saw Hiccup, he began to run in but skidded to a stop when he saw Mildew. He arched his back and growled, attempting to hold himself back from attacking the man.
They climbed back up on the Nadder, a Whispering Death lunged at them. Shadow spread his wings with a growl, he flew in and tackled the Whispering Death to the ground.
"Shadow!" Hiccup called.
"Someone get that Night Fury!" Alvin shouted.
Shadow looked up at Hiccup and smirked confidentaly before the Changewing pulled him off the Whispering Death with a sharp growl. Shadow snarled and fired at it, causing it to singe the softer skin of the Changewing. The Scauldron snapped its jaws at him but he jumped back, he fired and hit the pouch below its neck, momentarily knocking the wind out of it and forcing it to cough up some of its water.
He roared at them all while standing defensively in front of Hiccup and the others, they knew that they outnumbered him and gave deep growls to him. The Whispering Death suddenly dove underground.
"At least that one's gone." Mildew said. Shadow rolled his eyes quickly and jumped back from the Whispering Death's long, whip-like tail with a growl. He made a quick head gesture for them to leave, Hiccup and the Deadly Nadder noticed this.
"Well, uh, not for long, actually. Changewings shoot acid, Scauldrons fire boiling water and Whispering Deaths hunt from underground!" He exclaimed at the end and sent the Deadly Nadder to run off.
Shadow growled at the three dragons, when he felt the rumblings beneath his feet, he flew in the opposite direction of which Hiccup flew off to. He turned his head as he kept flying straight to see the dragons slowly gaining on him, he smirked and they pounced.
He flew in a flip above them and instead of them tackling him, they tackled each other. Their large bodies got tangled up and he gave a huff in their direction before flying off to catch up with Hiccup.
He landed with them in one of the more open areas of Outcast Island with his chest puffed out proudly. Hiccup got off and pet his head, Shadow, unlike all the other times, welcomed this gladly and actually purred at him.
"Hey, bud. How are you doing?" He rubbed along his head. Shadow gave a soft blow of warm and comforting dragon breath along his face, followed by a slow, slimy lick. "I missed you guys. Where's Al and Toothless?"
Shadow's eyes suddenly widened when he remembered what the objective was and let out a groan. He sniffed the air and after pacing around, he found nothing and looked back to Hiccup with confusion and guilt.
"It's okay, bud. We'll be able to find them much easier now that you're here." He patted his head again. Shadow bowed to the ground to allow him on his back. "Really? You mean, I don't have to chase you just so I can get on your back?"
Shadow sighed, used his wing to knock Hiccup up onto his back then gave a smirk back to him. He gave a gentle growl to him. "All right, bud. Let's go find Al and Toothless."
"Hiccup!" His father's voice rang out.
"Right after we're done talkig to them." Hiccup said. Stoic landed in front of them on Thornado with Gobber behind him.
"Oh, thank Thor you're alright!" Stoic exclaimed. "Is that Shadow?"
"Yes, it is and I am but Toothless and Al might be in trouble." Hiccup said.
"And Mildew is on the back of that dragon." Tuffnut whispered.
"I know." Hiccup said.
Tuffnut was silent for a moment then said a bit loudly, "Weird."
Mildew was pulled of the Nadder's back suddenly and onto the ground by Gobber, he lifted his hammer arm and shouted. "I should run you through right now!"
"No, Gobber! Gobber, no." Hiccup exclaimed and stopped Gobber from attacking Mildew. "He helped me escape. Dad, I owe Mildew my life."
They all stared at him in confusion, Shadow glared at Mildew then back at Hiccup for an explanation.
"Getting weirder." Tuffnut said.
"I'll explain later." Hiccup said. "Right now, I have to get to Alyssa and Toothless."
"Or bring Toothless to you." Astrid said. "She's probably with him, that's why she isn't with Shadow."
Hiccup gave a quick nod, cupped his hands on either side of his mouth and imitated a Night Fury call that echoed through the area.
"Where in the name of Thor did he go?" I asked and put a hand over my eyes so I could see better through the morning sun. "He's not going off anywhere without me ever again."
A Night Fury call hit our ears but it wasn't a real Night Fury call, it was Hiccup.
"Hiccup!" I called out. Toothless began to fly to the area where we heard the call. I put my hands around my mouth and called back. A real roar responded this time, Toothless called back. "Yes! Shadow's with him, bud!" I pet Toothless's head.
"There they are!" Hiccup called to the others that I just now noticed were flying behind him. He was on Shadow, Mildew was still on the Nadder, his dad and the other teens were following behind him on their dragons.
"Hey, guys!" I called then whistled. We all came in to land and I leapt off Toothless. He ran for Hiccup, Hiccup ran for him.
"Toothle-" He was playfully tackled to the ground and licked by his dragon, he laughed with the relief of seeing him again.
I felt eyes on me and looked up, Shadow stared curiously and expectantly. He looked over at the other two then back at me. I could tell by the look in his eyes that he wanted to do the same.
"Okay." I grinned and called "Sha-" He tackled me to the ground and gave a lick to my face. I couldn't help but to laugh and hugged his head tightly. "You had me worried, bud. Nice to see that you're okay." He purred and held me between his chest and chin in a hug but pulled back suddenly, turned his head up and growled. "Hm?"
"What's the matter, bud?" Hiccup asked Toothless who was growling as well. We followed their lines of sight to see Alvin standing there.
"Hey, kids! You weren't going to leave before we finished our business, were ya?" He asked. Hiccup stood and glared, I did the same. "That's what I'd expect from Stoic's little runt and the most worthless of all Vikings. 'Alyssa the Awful.' The only reason you're awful is because you're nothing more than an extreme disappointment!"
Okay, that drew the line then crossed it. I felt myself shaking from anger.
"Oh, boy." Gobber said.
"Hiccup! Alyssa!"
I leapt onto Shadow's back without thinking.
I'm done with being a dissapoinment.
I'm done with being an accident.
I heard Alvin's mocking laughter just before something shot both Shadow and I out of the sky, tied us together and tossed us onto the ground. I struggled harshly and began to bite at the ropes right before Hiccup and Toothless ended up rolling towards us and slammed up against us roughly.
I only remember hearing us all grunt in pain.
Pain.
They hurt all of us.
They hurt my precious ones right in front of me.
I saw red and pulled as hard as I could against the ropes, after a few seconds, I heard the ropes creaking from being stretched out. Outcasts began to approach us. I watched them with my reddened vision and kept thinking to myself that if this is the end, I will fight to the death. I'm going to protect these people that I can't live without if it costs me my life.
Luckily for us, everyone's dragons came in on their own accord and began to defend us. Barf did a cover fire with his gas, Belch sparked it and blew some of the Outcasts back.
"Yeah, we taught him that!" Tuffnut shouted. "We didn't teach them that did we? Yeah, I didn't think so."
Meatlug swooped in and made a protective ring of fire around us so the Outcasts wouldn't get to us. Shadow helped stretch out and snap the ropes. I patted his side and looked at Hiccup and Toothless. I was about to order Shadow to help but Stormfly and Hookfang lifted them out of the ring and sending quick grins our way before carrying them off to the other Vikings.
Shadow fired at a group of Outcasts, sending them flying back and dashed towards the others where they just cut Hiccup and Toothless free. The dragons joined our side again.
"What happened?" Hiccup asked.
"I was about to ask the exact same thing." I said.
"The dragons saved you guys on their own." Fishlegs said.
"Looks like they took their training to a whole new level." Astrid said.
"We can catch up later. Right now, we need to get out of here." Stoic said.
Just then, more Outcasts headed our way. The others got on their dragons and we flew into the air, Thornado threw a blast of his one of his powerful roars at them and threw them back.
Mildew was hanging off the edge of the Deadly Nadder's tail.
"Mildew!" Hiccup called out.
"For the love of Thor, Mildew, get back up here!" Gobber ordered. Mildew didn't oblige. "Don't you let go, old man."
"Tell the kids I'm sorry." He let go.
"Mildew!" Hiccup called out and turned to go back and help him.
Outcasts rushed up and held Mildew back. "Go, Hiccup. You have to leave me." He said. Crossbows were aimed at them. Shadow growled and fired at the arrows coming their way, knocking them away.
"He's right, son. We can't help him now." Stoic said. Hiccup reluctantly left.
"Too bad this wasn't the real thing." Hiccup said. We were at home looking at the fake map of the Isle of Night. "One bright side came out of it, though. We got Shadow back." He pet Shadow across the head, getting a purr back from him.
"Whoa, he's purring at you? When did that happen?" I asked.
"I don't know, he did it back on Outcast Island. He licked me and actually bowed his head down for me to get on instead of running all over the place and forcing me to catch him." Hiccup explained.
"Looks like he's finally getting attached to you." I grinned, took the paper from him and threw it into the fire, watching as it turned black and crumpled away into ash.
"Getting back to the map and all; there's nothing wrong with being two of a kind, right?" Hiccup asked. I'm not quite sure who he asked but I think he was asking all of us. "I mean, come on, Al. You and me, Toothless and Shadow. Two of a kind, we were all made for each other."
I broke out into a soft smile and gave a slow nod.
The door opened and we all turned to see Astrid.
"Would you come on?" We stared at her in confusion. "Bork week. The parade?" She said to ring a bell.
"Oh." Hiccup and I said then grinned.
"Shall we?" I asked.
"Yes, we shall." He said.
For the parade, Shadow and Toothless flew side by side, exchanging smiles at each other. The same with me and Hiccup.
I was happy to be with my dear friends... No, my family. No matter what one says, a family isn't just something that you're born into; it's the friends who stood with you through the thick and thin and fought by your side.
You know that they'll always be there for you, just like you are to them for the battles yet to come.
Toothless and Shadow suddenly began to spin around each other with trills then dashed through the clouds ahead with large grins on their faces, Toothless's tongue hanging out of his mouth and flapping around in the wind. Hiccup and I suddenly exchanged another look from across our dragons.
A look that said "I'm here for you. Always have been, always will be."
Alvin held his hand out to the Whispering Death he released from its cell. The dragon hesitated before leaning in and placing its nose upon Alvin's hand, he began to laugh maniacly along with Mildew, who coughed then began to laugh again.
Slade watched from the outside of the arena with narrowed eyes. "Trained dragons." He glared and turned, he began to walk away. "The blasted things can't be tamed, let alone tolerated by anyone with a correct mindset."
"Slade, get back 'ere!" Alvin shouted. Slade rolled his eyes and began to return to the arena to see it empty. A Whispering Death rose up behind him with a hiss. The noise made Slade turn around and glare fearlessly into the eye of the dragon.
"And what do you want?" He asked flatly.
"Well, this so-called 'trained dragon' seems to have bonded with me, Slade." Alvin said. "The dragons protect who they bond with. Remember the girl disguised as Heather? Protected by the Monstrous Nightmare."
"Only protected her because its brain is the size of the walnut." Slade said.
"Kind of like yourself."
"And what is that supposed to mean?" Slade took offense to the words spoken to him. "I'm nothing compared to these brainless beasts."
The Whispering Death growled at him, its spikes sticking straight out of its body.
"Down, Brainless." He said then laughed at Alvin. "Just like the boys' dragon being named 'Toothless'. Brainless, Gutless, Powerless. What else need I list, dear friend?"
"Each of those have just described yourself, Slade." Alvin growled. He stepped near Slade. Slade put a hand up to block himself from Alvin's breath that reeked of old fish, ale and somehow rotten blood, Alvin continued. "Brainless; you don't think, gutless; you don't have enough to confront me yourself, powerless; well, who's the one with the trained dragon?"
Slade rolled his eyes. "There you go again with this stupid and delusional 'trained dragons' idea. How on earth do you plan on keeping it controlled?"
"Like this." Alvin smirked. "Attack!" He pointed at Slade. The Whispering Death at his side swung its tail and slashed Slade across the face, blood began to seep from his left eye and a hand flew up to cover it. The dragon pulled back with a growl and ferocious shake of its head, before it dove in to finish the job, Alvin put a hand up. "That was enough for the message to go through."
Slade sat back up with a hand clenching over his now shut left eye. He glared harshly at Alvin through his good eye, Alvin kicked him back onto the ground.
"You see, Slade, I tolerated you at first because you had a way to utterly terrify others. Us, being Outcasts, is a very useful quality to have. However..." His face turned into a glare as he stared Hudson in the eyes. "Your attutude about thinking everyone is stupid except you tends to make a mistake; one of them being talking out loud."
Slade took a deep breath, "I don't know what you're talking about."
"Getting rid of me? Poor, old Alvin will never know he's being decieved by Slade the Sadistic." He mocked. "I have news for you, Hudson, I'm not as stupid as you'd like to think. I heard your each and every word echo off the walls of the prison."
"You're mistaken." Slade said flatly.
"I'll bet." Alvin said sarcastically. "Enjoy the rest of your time rotting, Slade, me dear old friend."
Well, guys. This was really fun. I enjoyed each follow, favorite and review. You guys have no idea how much I adore you.
I still won't be stopping here so don't worry, Alyssa and Shadow's adventures with the others will continue. I have to redo my Gift of the Night Fury story because I was forced to take it down so I'm going to have to remake the story, then there will be Legend of the Boneknapper, Book of Dragons, and I'll even get around to doing those short How to Train Your Dragon featurettes.
I'll also come after Dragons: Defenders of Berk comes out and I've made a few chapters for it and the same for How to Train Your Dragon 2. (Whenever I get the DVD, that is.)
So count on me PMing you guys for any of the future stories.
Also, I'm planning on making on making a more original story while working on these other ones. It'll be based around Alyssa and Hiccup after the dragons are trained and accepted on Berk but with a slight twist in the tale. Here's the summary:
"Sent of the island of Berk to live with her father's people at a young age, Alyssa is sent to Berk to and decieves the villagers so the Outcasts can reclaim their place as the most-feared Vikings in the land but what happens when she remembers an old friend?"