To wikelia- Are you sure she looooves him? ^_^ And thank you! I tried :D Your poor future husband, bless him! (Go for it ;) ) Well, I hope your expectations are met, thank you!

"Oh, this is going to hurt."

"It was your idea." Astrid smirked. Hiccup was 'modelling' Hildegard's prototype. He had thought he had a few weeks to psych himself up, but he hadn't taken into account how quickly his mumma-in-law worked. It had been three days and she had him suited and booted in Gronckle Iron armoured clothing. And facing down two Deadly Nadders, a squadron of Terrible Terrors and a Night Fury. Hildegard watched from a safe distance, pencil and paper at the ready. Hiccup sighed. "Ready?" Astrid grinned, far too excited to see her husband blown to smithereens. Hiccup straightened his helmet.

"I suppose so."

"Fire!" Astrid ordered. The Terrors attacked first, blasting him. One latched onto his shiny greave and tried to take off with it. "Stormfly, Spike, spine shot! Toothless, plasma blast!" Most of the spines skittered off the armour, one cutting through Hiccup's sleeve. Hildegard started scribbling notes immediately, looking up only to see her son-in-law blasted across the arena. Toothless chortled as his rider rolled onto his back, groaning. "What do you think, Mum?" Astrid asked cheerily. Hildegard hummed thoughtfully. "I say we go again."

"I am very much hurt."

"You big baby, you're fine." Astrid bounced over and helped him up. Everything ached, bruises on bruises. She tied her handkerchief around the cut on his arm. "Well, your Gronckle Iron held up alright." She brushed dirt from his front. "But maybe we should try a bigger target."

"Oh thank Thor..."

"You're very easily knocked off your feet." Hiccup frowned at her. Hildegard popped up before they could start play-fighting.

"Are you alright?"

"Peachy." Hiccup felt his head, realising his helmet was gone. Toothless scurried over, carrying the headwear in his mouth. "Astrid said mean things, mumma-in-law."

"She always says mean things. Arms up." Hildegard instructed. Hiccup did so, wincing as his shoulder flared. Hildegard noticed. "Maybe if we left the armour style, made it into a shirt. How would that work on the joints though?" She mused to herself. Hiccup let her inspect the damage. "Or we could layer it. On the bottom layer, you have the main pieces of armour and on the top layer, armour to fill in the gaps. Although, you don't want to get too hurt wearing it all, so maybe a thin underlayer..." She started making notes again. Astrid helped Hiccup pry himself lose from the prototype. Toothless's plasma blast had melted it a little in places.

"You're mean too." Hiccup told his dragon. Toothless managed a gummy smile around the helmet, rising up on his hind legs to plonk the spit-covered thing on his human's head. "Ah, Snoggletog memories. Thank you so much, bud."

"We should get you cleaned up." Astrid laughed. She patted Toothless as a well done and he rushed to join the two Nadders in chasing the Terrors. Hiccup flicked Night Fury saliva at her as she turned her head, startling her.

"I should run?" He asked, humour dying as she opened her eyes, lips pressed firmly together.

"You should run."

"Right. Bye, mumma-in-law!" And he was out of the arena, poof, gone. Astrid dragged her sleeves over her face and huffed irritably.

"Don't kill him too much, dear." Hildegard requested. "He's the only one I can get to test my designs."

"I'll just take his other leg then." Astrid kissed her mother's cheek. "Bye, Mum."

"Why is your mother trying to kill your dad this time?"

"Um, why wouldn't she?" Ingrid retorted. Alastor took the spyglass from Vadik and smiled, passing the long-looker to his sister. "Oh, wow. She's really gunning for him this time. Go Mum!"

"Let me see, let me see!" Aloe insisted. Alastor sat her on his shoulders, Ingrid handed the spyglass over. "Run, Daddy, run! She's gonna get you!" Two seconds later, Aloe hissed and grimaced. "Poor Daddy." She pouted. "Mummy's mean to Daddy."

"He more often than not deserves it." Ingrid smiled, waving it off. Aloe turned the spyglass elsewhere, gasping excitedly.

"Vad! Tuffnut is with your mummy!"

"Say what?" Vadik said slowly. "Wait!" His eyes widened and he jumped up. Aloe dropped the long-looker in his hand. "Oh no! Mum!" He scolded. The Haddocks laughed. "What's so funny?" Vadik demanded hotly.

"Easy, Vad." Alastor smiled. "We just figured you'd get like this." When Vadik still looked confused and annoyed, Alastor explained. "You've only just got your mum back and here she is dating Tuffnut of all people. You're jealous."

"I am not!"

"You so are!" Ingrid grinned wickedly. Vadik flushed crimson, wringing the spyglass in his hands. "Buddy, listen. It's perfectly normal, don't worry about it. Like Al said, you've literally only just met your mum, you'll want to get to know her without anyone interfering or taking her attention from you. But Dad said she crushed big on Tuff forever ago, so..." She shrugged carefreely. "I guess having you back gave her the confidence to agree to it all." Vadik's annoyance was simmering away, but he still looked uneasy. "Besides, why wouldn't you want Tuff as your stepdad? He's hilarious."

"You're only saying that because he put eels in Arne's underwear."

"Come on, bro, you found it funny too."

"That's besides the point." Alastor said quickly. "Tuff's crazy. Like, off the charts crazy. Him and Ruff, but at least she's got Eret to somewhat keep her in check, like, twenty-three percent of the time. Ada loves Tuff's pranks and jokes, she's just going to encourage him."

"No." Aloe said. "Mummy said Uncle Tuff hasn't be as calm or as nice since he started seeing Vadik's mummy."

"Did she now?" Ingrid asked, smiling.

"Oh, you've got that look." Vadik shuffled away slightly. "What are you planning?"

"Absolutely nothing." Ingrid smirked. "To do with you." She added. "Aren't we supposed to be getting you a dragon anyway?"

"Well, yeah, but Mum-"

"Let her and Tuff be, Vad." Alastor advised, hand on his friend's shoulder. "They're cool. Go and get a dragon. SPIKE!" He yelled, making Aloe jump. His Nadder arrived within the minute, a whole roasted chicken in his mouth. Alastor just sighed. "I want him back in one piece." He warned his sister.

"I know how to fly a dragon, Al. Have some faith."

"He doesn't." Alastor nodded at Vadik.

"I'm not flying the dragon, I promise. Not until I've trained up some, anyway. Uh... can you keep an eye on-"

"No, I am not spying on your mum." Alastor shook his head. "Aloe wants to go back to the cove and carry on swimming. Maybe we'll find you a dragon too, little Al." He jostled his little sister's feet. Aloe clapped excitedly.

"Yay! Let's get a dragon, big Al!"

"Mum and Dad are going to kill you."

"Well then, Aloe can have Spike too." The Nadder squawked unhappily. "I'm joking, bud, just joking." He petted his dragon's nose, said his goodbyes and stalked off down the hill, Aloe still sat on his shoulders and babbling a hundred miles an hour. Ingrid sighed, shaking her head. Spike crooned and scratched under his wing, waiting for them.

"Ladies first." Vadik offered.

"Do you know how to mount a dragon? Particularly a Nadder?"

"Uh..."

"Didn't think so. Spike, c'mhere. You need to get his trust first. It helps that he knows you, but still. You can't just jump on a dragon willy-nilly. If they don't trust you, they'll tip you off."

"Sounds delightful. Do I do the hand thing now?" She nodded. Vadik gradually and tentatively put his hand out. Spike eyed him sidelong, considering for a moment. Ingrid made to speak, to tell Vadik to move back, but Spike accepted him at the last second, pushing his nose against his palm. Vadik sighed in relief. "Now what?"

"Put your foot on his wing joint. Carefully. Nadders are very vain, as I'm sure you've noticed." Vadik inclined his head. With a little help from her, he was in the saddle. Spike shuffled his wings and peered back, looking as though he were smiling. Ingrid deftly climbed up in front of him, taking hold of the horns.

"Do you ever worry those will take an eye out or something?"

"No." She grinned over her shoulder. "I'm not an idiot."

"True, but still..."

"Stop worrying. Right, what did Al say? Spike, uh... fly! Up! No, that's not right..." Spike scraped his claws along the dirt impatiently, then started running. He jumped off the peak of the hill, letting the wind fill his wings. Vadik almost fell as the Nadder started climbing higher and higher, throwing his arms around Ingrid's waist. She glared at him.

"Sorry! But I'm not keen on plummeting to my death!"

"You're not going to plummet to your death!" She reprimanded. "Now stop crushing my internal organs and sit up! Hold my shoulders if you have to!" Vadik did, praying to every god he could think of that he would indeed not plummet. Ingrid shook her head, directing Spike towards the forest. "Any idea what kind of dragon you want?"

"Um... one that doesn't try to kill me?"

"They'll all do that until they know they can trust you!"

"Isn't that just wonderful?" Ingrid laughed.

"Ahh, poor ickle bubba Vad is scared!"

"For good reason! Dragons are as scary as they are cool!" Again, she shook her head, still laughing. Spike spotted a clump of Terrors ahead, squawking eagerly. He dived at them, chasing them, loop-the-looping and doing barrel rolls. Vadik felt ready to be sick, which humoured Ingrid even more. She eventually took pity on him, pulling slightly on the Nadder's crown and levelling him out, back on track to the forest.

Vadik could not have been happier to be back on solid ground. "OK, maybe a small dragon."

"That wasn't the best of first flights, admittedly. Usually we take first time riders on a gentle route, no flipping and turns, none of that. I'm just a mean trainer."

"You can say that again." Vadik grumbled. "Ugh, I think I lost my stomach back there somewhere."

"Then you won't want lunch. This way. Come on, Spike." She started off, her brother's dragon obediently following behind. Vadik waited until his head stopped spinning and stomach stopped churning before running after her. They came across a Gronckle first, rolling a particularly large rock down a small slope. Vadik shook his head. "What's wrong with a Gronckle?" Ingrid demanded, crossing her arms.

"Nothing, I just don't want a Gronckle."

"Moving on then."

They walked for another quarter of hour before they found anything else. Spike was delighted to see another Nadder, flirting a little with the female, showing off his colours and barbed tail. Ingrid pinched the bridge of her nose. Thankfully, the female Nadder had little interest in this potential suitor and carried on. Spike didn't seem all that bothered, chasing butterflies instead. He discovered a snoozing Monstrous Nightmare in the opening of a cave, stopping abruptly. Nightmares were the most violent if you woke them up. These were not morning-dragons. Ingrid motioned to Vadik, put a finger to her lips and carried on. Vadik followed, trying to step where she stepped as to not wake the sleeping beast.

"Whoa, what's that one?"

"Oh gods... that's a Typhoomarang."

"I want one."

"Fine." Ingrid muttered. She thought for a moment, giving the relevant dragon call when she remembered it. The Typhoomarang looked round, roaring in reply. When he landed and saw two small humans and a Nadder, he was less than happy, but was curious too. "There you go. One Typhoomarang. Go get him."

"Just like that?"

"Just like that." Ingrid confirmed. "Do the hand thing. And stay calm. Don't freak. They can smell fear."

"Yes, that's really helpful, thank you." Vadik started forward. The Typhoomarang's great head whipped round and his yellow eyes narrowed. Vadik jumped back. "You know, that Gronckle might have been easier."

"Just do it. Talk to him, give him a name."

"Like what?"

"I don't know, he's your dragon."

"Um... OK. Hello, uh, Mr. Typhoomarang. Please don't bite my head off, I'm just trying to train a dragon, I'd really appreciate it if you didn't bite me. Ooh, he moved!" Vadik shook his hands, spinning on the spot. Ingrid snickered. "You're not helping! Whoa, no! Don't eat me!" Vadik threw his arms over his head, eyes firmly shut. The Typhoomarang towered over him, taking huge breaths, smelling him.

Imagine his surprise when the mighty dragon nuzzled him and... purred? Vadik opened his eyes, marvelling at this giant creature. Slowly lowering his arms, he glanced at Ingrid. She beamed and nodded, waving him on. "Um... hello?" Another nudge. Vadik put his hand out and his new friend pressed his nose against it. "Oh wow. That actually worked. I think I need to lie down."

"Give him a name!" Ingrid hissed.

"Um... I'm going to call you... uh... Hurricane?" No, a grumpy growl. "Uh... Tornado? Storm? Oooh! I've got it! Jetstorm!" The Typhoomarang perked up at that. "Jetstorm it is then. Hey, Ingrid, I've got a dragon."

"I can see that. Where the hell are you going to keep him?"

"Oh. I didn't think of that. Do you think Mum will notice?" She held up her hand, thumb and forefinger very nearly touching. Then she shrugged. "Well, I've got a dragon now. Named him and everything, I can't leave him out here."

"Maybe Dad will let you have one of the big pens in the arena. Pretty sure a Typhoomarang can fit in one of them. If not, we'll think of something else." She whistled to Spike, swinging up into the saddle. Vadik looked at Jetstorm. The dragon bowed his head. "He wants you to get on." Ingrid prompted. Vadik did, clutching the horns before him. Spike took off, calling to Jetstorm, encouraging him up too. "Your mum is going to love you."