So I just saw Solo: A Star Wars Story on Friday, and it was better than I was expecting, but some parts were just meh in my opinion. I'd put it in front of The Last Jedi, Attack of the Clones, and The Phantom Menace in terms of my enjoyment of it, although I still enjoy all Star Wars movies.

But for those of you who saw that ending... that changes things a WHOLE lot for me in the writing of my characters and future interactions. Geez, you know exactly what I am talking about if you saw it. Was not expecting that at ALL!

Anyways, on to the chapter! :D

Hiccup POV...

As I shuffled through the forest towards the cove, hefting this terribly heavy basket of fish and the prosthetic fin I created for Toothless, my mind was still racing from last night.

Mara knows... she's seen my book. I could tell from the look in her eyes that she knew about Toothless. I don't know whether to be terrified or excited. I guess I should count myself lucky that she and her family don't think badly of dragons, which I'm now starting to see for myself. If she told anyone I would've known before I even got to my house that night. However I still couldn't shake the feeling of terror about someone else knowing my secret. If it was anyone else who knew about it besides those three... I would be immediately made an outcast, more so than I was already... or worse.

Thor help me if my dad finds out about this.

Climbing down the cove however, I swallowed my fear and set my mind off of that situation for now. I was here to feed Toothless, and see if this fin I made works effectively. I could worry about Mara later.

"Hey Toothless!" I called out, entering the cove. He immediately came stalking over, a curious look on his face. I smiled lightly, still not used to the fact that I could approach a dragon now without a fear of being burned or eaten, but hey, I rather like it!

"I brought breakfast. I hope- hope you're hungry!" I managed to say, dropping the basket off of my shoulders with a sigh of relief. I use my foot to kick it over, and fish spill out with a disgusting, slimy sound.

"Okay, that's disgusting," I say to myself, cringing.

Toothless approaches however, completed unbothered and settles in to devour this... lovely... feast.

"Uh..we've got some salmon..." I start to say.

Toothless swallows it.

"...some nice Icelandic cod..."

He swallows those too.

"...and a whole smoked eel," I finish.

The moment I say that, Toothless' eyes go wide before they narrow into slits, and he backs up with a low growl. Wary, I find the end of the eel and pick it up with two fingers, holding it out. He flares his wings and snarls with a wild look on his face as if he were about to attack, terrifying me.

"No, no, no!" I exclaim in a panic, tossing the eel to the side as far as I could throw it, holding a placating hand out to him. "It's okay!"

He immediately calms down and warily sniffs the pile for anymore eel before continuing on with his meal. "Yeah, I don't like eel much either," I add in nervously, wiping my hands off on my vest.

Toothless focuses on the remainder. With the dragon distracted, Hiccup unwraps his prosthetic fin and opens it like a fan.

"Okay. That's it. That's it, just stick with good stuff. And don't you mind me. I'll just be back...here. Minding my own business," I said quietly, cautiously approaching the injured tail as quietly as I can while Toothless continues to gobble up all of the fish. I kneeled down on the ground and carefully placed the fin by his tail. But every time I get near it, Toothless sweeps his tail away like a cat. Guess that answer my question from the Nadder training. His tail moves again and I jerk back nervously.

"It's okay." I say placatingly, internally cringing. As if he knows what I'm doing.

I edge the fin closer, but then his tail moves more sporadically. Fed up, I give up on subtlety and just grab the thing with both hands, however he pulls forward when sticking his head into the basket, causing me to lurch forwards with a yelp. Grumbling to myself, I climbed on top of the tail to keep it still and started strapping the fin in place. His real fin flaps for a moment before going completely still, but I don't notice, to invested in getting the prosthetic attached.

Finishing with the straps, I sit up and stare at the fin. "There. Not too bad. It works," I mutter analytically to myself.

As soon as I said that, Toothless suddenly bolted much to my shock, and I was feet off the ground before I could react. I cried out in surprised and fear, grasping onto the tail for dear life as the ground quickly got further and further away.

"Woah! No! No! No!" I exclaim in a panic.

We then start to drip downwards into an uncontrolled fall, and I scream in fright while Toothless roars in the same fear. Glancing behind me, I saw that we were falling straight towards a bunch of painful looking rocks, so in an act of desperation I yanked open the prosthetic fin, sending us straight back into the air, away from imminent death.

"Oh my- It's working!" I exclaimed in excited disbelief.

I turn the fin, and Toothless' whole body follows the direction I turned it in, sending us back in a soaring arc across the lake in the cove. I grin wildly in excitement, my whole body flooding with amazement at my invention really working, and for a dragon no less!

"Yes! Yes, I did it!" I exclaimed.

A few moments later my joy is short lived however, as Toothless suddenly jerks to the side violently, throwing me off of his tail. I scream in fear as I fall towards the lake, luckily not hurt too badly on impact with the water. Underneath the surface, I faintly hear the sound of another much more massive splash and burst my head up, taking a deep breath. Nearby, I notice Toothless also swimming in the water, nipping at the prosthetic, and my joy returns

"Yeah!" I yell out happily, throwing my arms into the air.

Toothless roars in what seems to be annoyance, but I'm too pumped up to care, swimming back to shore alongside the dragon, ideas running through my head about how to improve it. Obviously it didn't work automatically, which meant I had to manually change the tail positions. But there was no way I was going to be sitting from the back of a dragon's tail, not in long shot. I barely notice my surroundings as I drag myself out of the water, pacing around the beach of the cove while Toothless shakes the water off of himself nearby to get dry, swinging his tail around to examine it again.

He then looks up at me and nudges me with his snout, letting out a confused and slightly irritated sounding whine. "Hey, it actually worked though! That's something!" I protested. "Now I just gotta figure out how to work it without hanging from your tail," I said absentmindedly.

"I think it was brilliant!" a cheerful feminine voice sounded nearby.

I glanced up with a surprised yelp to see Mara standing on top of a nearby boulder, looking down at us with a grin on her face. Toothless turned to her and snarled, immediately getting defensive. Then to my horror he starts charging up a blast, aimed right at her!

"Wait Toothless, no!" I exclaimed, moving to stop Toothless from firing, but it was too late. I watched in horror as the purple plasma bolt sailed straight for Mara.

Mara POV...

I widened my eyes in surprise at the plasma bolt headed straight for me. Maybe I should've announced my arrival better...

Acting purely on instinct, with the Force screaming danger in my mind, I activated my lightsaber and swung it in front of me just before the violet blast of energy reached me. My purple blade managed to absorb the plasma bolt and redirect it away, where the majority of it crashed into the rock wall with an explosion. The force of the impact also sent my flying backwards, but I luckily managed to stabilize myself in the air with a flip and land on my feet, although stumbling slightly.

Toothless snarled again and I deactivated my lightsaber, tossing it to the side with my hands raised placatingly, letting my presence shine gently towards him through the Force.

Hiccup's eyes were wide in terror as he tried to pull Toothless back, but upon sensing my presence freely with his senses, he calmed down and tilted his head at me, his aggression going away before he warbled at me apologetically.

"There's a good boy," I said quietly with a relieved smile.

Hiccup gaped at me in a mixture of awe, disbelief, and nervousness. "What... how- I eh- what?!" he stammered in a panic.

"Hey, chill out fishbone, I'm fine," I retorted, calmly walking towards them, patting Toothless on the snout as he came over to sniff me curiously.

"Yeah- how are you fine?! You just blocked a Night Fury blast!" he exclaimed in disbelief.

I nodded my head nonchalantly. "Yup."

"How are you not dead?!" he demanded, although I could sense the relief clear in his voice.

I shrugged. "Plasma blast, really seems the same in principle as a blaster bolt, just at a much more damaging effect," I explained.

"What's a blaster?!" he yelled, and I flinched slightly before groaning. "Ugh, you know what, nevermind. Besides, I'm good now, so that's that," I told him.

He sighed, nervously running his hand through his hair. "Look, Mara... I'm really sorry about-"

"Ep, ep!" I say, holding hand up in his face to stop him before he goes on a guilt rant. "That wasn't your fault, or Toothless' fault. He was just reacting defensively-" Toothless warbled in agreement. "-and I probably could have announced myself better than that, but it happened, I'm fine. So no guilt tripping ok?"

He sighed, looking at me with a nervous and slightly fearful look. "Ok..." he said slowly, and we remain silent for a few mments before he speaks up. "So... you know?" he asks carefully, and I could see the fear in his eyes.

"If you're worried about me telling the village, then don't be. I'm not gonna do that," I reassure him.

He sighs in relief. "Thanks Mara."

I grin at him. "I thought you and Toothless shared a very cute moment last night."

He widened his eyes. "You were there last night?!" he exclaimed. "Wait, how'd you know his name is Toothless?"

"The Force. Duh," I replied snarkily, and he rolls his eyes.

"Right. What was I thinking," he deadpans, causing me to giggle. Toothless nudges me curiously, and I pet his head again, awing at the adorable look on his face with those wide puppy eyes.

"Oh my gosh, even the Terror's back at the Temple aren't nearly as cute as him!" I exclaim, getting all giggly and girly about it.

Hey, I'm a thirteen year old teenage girl. What'd you expect?

"H-hey, don't spoil him like that," he complains halfheartedly, while Toothless begs me for attention, throwing a gummy smile at me and rolling onto his back for me to scratch his belly.

"Come on Hiccup, don't tell me you don't find him adorable too," I retort with a raised eyebrow in his direction while I scratch Toothless.

He opens his mouth before closing it, glancing at me sheepishly. "Ok, maybe a little," he admits with a small smile.

I frown at him, noticing his attire. "And why are you still wet?" I demand.

"Oh... well I fell in the lake and... haven't bothered drying off..." he mumbles.

I roll my eyes before realizing why I came here in the first place. "Oh by the way your dragon training lesson starts soon."

He widens his eyes in realization and groans. "Oh Thor I'm gonna be late..."

Jarik POV...

After dropping off Tseebo in a place where the Empire wouldn't find him, we returned to our ship, ready to head back to Ahch-To. As Ahsoka was readying the ship for take off, I glanced at an update on my datapad and frowned.

"Huh, that's weird," I muttered quietly.

"What is?" Ahsoka asked.

"I just got a report about Imperial activity that honestly... I'm not sure what to make of it," I replied.

"What kind of activity?" she presses.

I tapped a few icons and took a closer look at the file. "The Emperor is sending ships into the Unknown Regions, although I don't know why."

Ahsoka widened her eyes in alarm. "Do you think he somehow figured us out?"

I immediately shake my head. "No, not from what I'm seeing. Besides, this is far away from Ahch-To's position, so he wouldn't find us regardless even if he was looking for us," I told her.

She leaned back in the chair and crossed her arms with a thoughtful frown on her face, although she was relieved about my answer. "Huh, that is odd," she says in agreement, before turning towards R5, who was standing nearby. "Hey buddy, do you think you could get any info about what those ships are for?"

He beeps reluctantly before doing his equivalent of an eye roll, which I'm surprised he managed to figure out, and plugged into the terminal. He searched for a few minutes, slicing through various firewalls thanks to my programming I added, and then turned his dome to us with a small hologram, beeping out what he was managing to uncover. The hologram showed plans for various supply cruisers with Star Destroyer escorts, along with a few lines of text.

"He's... searching for something? OUTSIDE the galaxy?!" I read with a raised eyebrow. "What in the universe is he expecting to find outside of our galaxy?"

"As far as I know there isn't even anything outside the galaxy, much less a way to traverse distances between them." Ahsoka added with a furrowed brow in confusion.

"Can you find anything else?" I asked R5, and he sent me a rather snarky beep with wonderfully nice vocabulary.

Basically he said no.

I rolled my eyes in exasperation. "Alright alright, no need to get your gears in a twist," I retorted, leaning back in my own chair.

"What are you up to Sidious..." I muttered.

"He obviously knows something that we don't..." Ahsoka trailed off, an idea popping into her mind. Recognizing the look on her face, I popped up with interest. "What are you thinking?"

"Did you ever learn where Snoke is?" she asks me, a look of concern on her face.

I widened my eyes at her implication. "You don't think he also knows about Snoke, much less looking for him!"

"Well he somehow figured out we had a Force bond back during the Clone Wars, due to the fact that he anonymously told the Jedi Council about it in the first place," she pointed out, and I frowned at the memory, remembering how confused and shocked I was at someone sending a message to the Council, revealing me and Ahsoka's Force bond. It was only years later that I dug up the message and learned it was sent from the Chancellor's Office. That was terrifying.

"So maybe he also knows about Snoke and is looking for him... or worse," she said gravely.

My mind immediately went to my vision of the dark, three eyed entity I saw through the Force. The feeling I got from that thing was... unnatural. Tainted.

"Let's hope they don't find anything," I said, worried about all these dangers of the galaxy. THe idea of there being a lot more darkness out there than we can comprehend is scary.

Mara POV...

"Today is about teamwork. Work together and you might survive." Gobber says, pulling the lever.

Gas seeps through the cracks of the door before it suddenly blasts open. A cloud of smoke engulfs the ring, swirling around the paired-up teens. Astrid was with Ruffnut, Snotlout with Tuffnut, and Fishlegs with Hiccup. All of them are carring buckets of water for this lesson, which Gobber was explaining right now. I could sense exactly where the dragon was, but of course the rest of them didn't have that ability, so they had no idea where the dragon was.

"Now, a wet dragon head can't light its fire. The Hideous Zippleback is extra tricky. One head breathes gas, the other head lights it. Your job is to know which is which," Gobber explains, stepping off to the side of the ring as the smoke engulfs everyone, seperating them into their partnered groups.

I can't really see them that well this time, which causes me to frown. So using the Force, I do my best to sense where they are, and maybe listen in on any quiet conversations going on. The listening part doesn't work very well, although I can hear Hiccup suddenly exclaim harshly in a hushed tone to Fishlegs. Dude probably went on his panicking dragon facts rant again.

This Zippleback though was certainly very quiet, and although I could sense it, I could barely hear it. Right now it was just circling around the teens, keeping a close watch on all of them with its sense of smell, waiting for a moment to strike.

Footsteps behind me suddenly get my attention, and to my surprise, Mom and Dad lean against the metal cage on either side of me.

"Hey," Dad says.

"Oh, hey!" I say quickly. "Didn't realize you were back already!"

"We just returned," Mom replied. "So their doing another lesson?"

I nod my head. "Yup. They have to figure out which head of the Zippleback head to splash with water."

They both nodded in approval. "This lesson is definitely more important than the first one with the Gronckle," Dad says.

"Teamwork building, knowledge skills, and patience, as well as the mastering of their senses," Ahsoka adds in. Now that I think about it, this lesson reminded me the most of my Jedi training compared to the other two.

"There!" Snotlout suddenly yells, and the splashes of water from buckets can be heard. Only it was the wrong target, which prompts the Zippleback to move in. Uh oh.

"This isn't good," Dad stated with a shake of his head.

"Hey!" Astrid says angrily.

"It's us, idiots!" Ruffnut finishes. I can only imagine that both girls are soaked. "Your butts are getting bigger. We thought you were a dragon," tuffnut says, snickering at his joke. I don't even need the Force to hear that, he was so loud. No wonder the Zippleback was going for him. I would step in but... I got the feeling they would be okay, at least aren't in danger of dying.

"Not that there's anything wrong with a dragon-esque figure." Snotlout says, in an attempt to woo Astrid.

Mom sighed. "That's definitely not how to pick up a girl."

"I would know," Dad said with a small grin, causing Mom to roll her eyes.

The sound of a vicious punch lets me know without needing to that his flirting failed once more. I also sense Ruffnut throwing the bucket at Tuffnut, who collapses to the ground. That's when the Zippleback strikes, snatching him up, his startled cries heard from the fog. The sound of buckets spilling and the girls yelling lets me know the dragon swiped them off their feet with its tail.

Eventually the dragon lets Tuffnut go, and he stumbles away, moaning and groaning in pain. "Oh I'm hurt! I am very much hurt!"

The smoke finally starts to clear, and I see Fishlegs and Hiccup facing down a single head of the dragon popping out of the smoke, slithering its way towards them. Fishlegs backpedals in fright, throwing his water at the dragons head in a panic. It leers and opens its mouth, spewing gas into the area.

"Oh dear." Mom sighed.

"Oh. Wrong head." Fishlegs stated nervously.

The dragon sprays him with the green gas, completely covering him in it. He runs away with his hands in the air, screaming in terror.

"Fishlegs!" Gobber exclaims in genuine worry, although thankfully he managed to get away from the head.

A clicking sound then comes from behind them. Sparks flash in the smoke from the second head as it appears, sparking its teeth together, and Hiccup turns towards it nervously.

"Now, Hiccup!" Gobber urges.

Determined, Hiccup takes a few steps forward and hurls the water bucket with all his might. It arcs and drops short of the dragon's sparking mouth. The dragon leers at him, and I watch nervously.

"Oh, come on," he deadpans in exasperation.

The Zippleback then lunges forwards with a roar, knocking Hiccup to the ground and flaring its wings with a wild look. I widen my eyes and prepare to slip through the bars when Mom stops me. I look up at her in surprise and disbelief but she shakes her head.

"Just wait," she says, a confident smile on her face.

"Hiccup!"

I turn back to look at the arena in confusion, which only grows as the Zippleback hesitates. It sniffs, before retreating with a frightened expression.

What?

The teens get to their feet, watching transfixed. The Zippleback is backing away from Hiccup, who stands and holds his hands out, as if controlling it. He strides forwards, shoving his hands outwards, and the dragon backs up with frightened yelps.

"Back. Back! BACK! Now don't you make me tell you again!" he exclaims, starting off hesitantly before quickly gaining confidence. The Zippleback retreats through its door and into its cave, hissing violently.

"Yes, that's right. Back into your cage," he continues. "Now think about what you've done."

I then notice him throw something into the cage, and narrow my eyes curiously as I contemplate what it may have been, and glance back up at my parents. They both have interested smiles on their faces.

"Looks like Hiccup is more creative than we realized," Dad says.

"I can't believe dragons are afraid of eels." Mom says with a chuckle, shaking her head.

"Eels?" I asked.

She nods her head. "Yup. I could smell it."

"Okay! So are we done? Because I've got some things I need to..." Hiccup jogs out of the ring, past the speechless group, much to me and my parents amusement. "Yep...see you tomorrow!"

He glances over at us on the way, and I give him a thumbs up.

Fun chapter huh?

For Mara using her lightsaber to block a Night Fury blast, it makes total sense in my head because plasma blasts are that... plasma. Similar in comparison to a blaster bolt, just on a larger and more dangerous scale, so it works just fine in my opinion.

Oh Palpy... what are you up too Sidious? :O