Special Thanks to Lala2003 for helping with grammar and fixing some of the words in this chapter, and WinterCrystal1009 for fixing the first half of this chapter.

Hiccup

It was very early in the morning, but only a little bit earlier than I usually wake up. I've been going to sleep in the late hours of the afternoon when I'm done with my chiefly duties. Because of all that, I hadn't had the time to finish my latest project yet, but it was almost done. I just needed to collect a few more of T's scales, then test out the flying aspect of the suit. Though I needed to hurry before everyone else woke up, otherwise I wouldn't be able to take Toothless out flying.

"Toothless," I whisper to get his attention, "Come on bud, let's go flying."

Toothless made an excited warbling noise and followed me downstairs. But he was making way too much noise.

"Shhhhh, Toothless. I know —believe me, I'm just as excited— but we need to stay silent," I whispered.

I was in front of my door, hoping to find no one on the other side. "Ok, today is going to be a good day. I'm just going to fly with Toothless for a few hours then come home," I mumbled to myself while turning the doorknob.

When I opened it, I was shocked to see someone standing there. Even more so that it was Ronde, of all people, who was there. He had his hand poised to knock on my door with a confused look on his face. But that's when I noticed that he had new clothes and a bag.

"Oh, you're up already? I was just about to wake you up myself before anyone else got up, but this can work for me," he said while lowering his hand.

"Ronde? What are you doing here this early?" I asked, concerned.

He looked at me, then behind me and saw Toothless, he had a grin on his face and moved aside to let us out and said, "If I didn't know any better, I'd think you're trying to sneak out and fly with Toothless again. Well, either I could come with you and ride on Toothless's back, or you could wait for me to find you in the air while I'm a dragon. Either way, I need to talk to you."

I didn't have time to wait. I could only picture Gobber waking up as we spoke. "Fine, get on Toothless and hurry please."

He backed up and gave me and Toothless some space so we could get out of the house. I hastily mounted Toothless' saddle and told Ronde to get on. He climbed on behind and gripped my shoulders. We quickly flew off, away from Berk, but not before I saw Gobber emerging from his own hut. Of course he saw us.

"HICCUP! GET BACK HERE!"

I spurred my dragon even faster away from Berk.

Just as soon as Berk left our sights, Toothless slowed his pace I turned to Ronde and asked, "Ok, what is it you wanted to talk about?"

He let go of my shoulders and held on to the saddle. "Remember yesterday when you were talking to those kids about how you believe that each person should have a dragon of their own?"

"Yes, I remember. Why?"

"Well, what you said, it really resonated with me, and I couldn't stop thinking about it last night. Hiccup, I think I should have a dragon of my own, as a partner."

You know, I hadn't really considered that since I know he can become one. But I couldn't understand why, so I asked him.

"When I decide to leave the village, I want to help if I do get into a situation and I want someone to be around if I get… lonely. As I've said before, that Typhoomerang, the one I named Combustion, helped me stop the Dragon Hunters, but there were times that we were too big to help so I had to try to become human to help free and knock out a few guards. If that were to happen again, I need a dragon to back me up, right?."

I could see where he was coming from but... "That's fine, but why do you need to have a conversation with me? We have plenty of dragons in our village that don't have riders."

"Maybe that's true, but you don't have any dragons that can help without any risks," he responded.

I was confused, "All missions have risks, Ronde."

"No, that's not… agh!" he sounded frustrated when I looked back over at him. He was scratching his head in frustration and placed his hand on his chin, it looked like he was thinking until his eyes widened as if he had an idea. "Oh ok, remember when I was out of control during the Bog Burglars raid?"

At that moment I remembered all the destruction that he caused, he could have easily killed someone if it wasn't for our dragons calming him down. "How could I forget?"

"Well, you saw me at my wildest and you know how fast I am from when I ran away from the Day of Peace meeting. I need a dragon that can at least equal my speed and strength. But none of the dragons in your village come close to that except for Toothless, but Toothless is your partner."

I looked back at him. "So why did you want to have this conversation with me?"

"I just thought that maybe you could help me find the dragon that I'm looking for? I mean, that is why I asked Toothless to go in this direction."

"You did what now?" It took me a while to notice, but we weren't taking our usual flightpath. I turned back towards Ronde and asked, "How did you—"

"I guess I didn't fully explain it before, when I told you about my past. Sometimes I can imitate the abilities of other dragons, I can still do a few things when I'm human but it is very limited. In this case, I can communicate my thoughts when I'm touching a dragon. I picked that up when I was at the Bewilderbeast's nest from the king himself. When I'm a dragon, I can do it without touching them, but my range is only a couple of yards."

I was amazed and asked, "What else can you do?"

He just shrugged, "For what I know, nothing major. I can't breathe fire or stick to surfaces, but when I get really, angry steam comes off my body. My sense of smell and hearing are enhanced, and I'm just a bit stronger than what I look like. But that's about it."

So that's what happened when Snotlout angered him. I could've sworn I saw steam coming off of him when we first met too. Back then, I told myself I imagined it.

"So Hiccup, can you help me find the dragon I'm looking for?" he asked.

"I mean, we're already out this far, but how long will it take to find the right dragon? What species is it?"

He smiled then patted Toothless back while saying, "Not long, we'll probably be back in a few hours, some time in the afternoon maybe. As for the dragon, I can't tell you what it is just yet."

"You drag me all the way out here into the middle of nowhere—" I spread my arms wide, gesturing to the desolate ocean, a playful smirk creasing my eyes. "—and won't even tell me what dragon we're looking for. That seems hardly fair."?"

He laughed and said, "If I were to tell you, you wouldn't want to help me find it. If I were to leave it a mystery, you would be more interested to find out what kind of dragon I am talking about. Could it be a new type of dragon that only I know about or is it a dragon that is a rare sight? You, my friend, just have to wait and find out."

"Tell me what you're looking for," I demanded.

He shook his head, "I will do no such thing, Hiccup. You just have to wait until we find it, and we should be able to find one, but I know that we need to rest. In a few hours, there should be an island coming up, so we can rest there and continue on our journey."

Great, he's taking advantage of my weakness: discovering new types of dragons. "Fine Ronde, but at least tell me this."

He turned his gaze on me, and it was his turn to look perplexed.

"Is the dragon dangerous?" I asked.

"Yep."

"Is it going to try to kill us," I asked again.

He shrugged, "Most likely."

I looked forward to the open sky, "Bring it on. Ronde, you lead the way."

He gave me an unreadable expression and said, "Fly above the clouds."

I was confused but I didn't question him. We flew above the Clouds.

"Hiccup don't look at me, I have to...take off my clothes..."

Oh...that's why he wanted to be up here. I didn't look at him for several moments, but then I heard him slide off of Toothless' back.

For a few moments I didn't hear anything, until I saw him burst out of the clouds as the Chimera dragon.

"Still just as painful, but I should be fine for two more changes back and forth for today," he said to himself. When I noticed the bag he had on his shoulder, I realised that it must have been holding his clothes.

He sniffed the air and looked at me before saying, "I believe I found the dragon I'm looking for. It's a scent that I haven't smelled before, but that let's me know that it's a dragon I haven't previously encountered. It is a dragon, though, so follow me."

He flew ahead of us, and Toothless followed quickly after. But then, I thought of something; what kind of dragon were we after? It seemed like it was a dragon that he knew about but had never encountered, so it had to be rare or something.

A few hours had gone by, yet we hadn't said anything to each other. So I was surprised when he said, "Hey Hiccup, the island I was talking about is just a few minutes away. We can rest there for a bit and maybe get something to eat."

I only responded by nodding. It was a good idea since we hadn't eaten breakfast because we hadn't thought that we would be out this long. I saw the island coming up and we prepared ourselves to land.

Ronde landed on the island first, touching down on a sandy beach, and Toothless followed shortly after.

Ronde scanned the environment and sniffed the air. But his expression shifted to alarm and he took another whiff in the air.

I was a little bit worried about his facial expression, so I asked, "Ronde is everything OK? What's with that look?"

He got on all fours and sniffed around the beach until he was close to the edge of the forest. He turned around and looked at me and said, "Something or someone has been to this island before. The scent is so faint that it might have been a while ago, but we should be cautious just in case."

I nodded and dismounted Toothless, "Well, now what, Ronde?"

He looked at me and said, "Start a campfire. I'll go get some food for you and Toothless."

He then opened his wings and flew off.

45 minutes later.

I set up the campfire with a little help from Toothless (okay, fine, Toothless did all the hard work), and Ronde came back with plenty of fish for me to eat. However… he regurgitated some food for Toothless. I didn't think he would do that.

He caught me staring at him while he was giving Toothless food, "I know that it's disgusting but that was how I was fed when I was younger, Hiccup. Plus, it was the only way to carry enough food for you both."

"I know, it's just I didn't expect you to do that," I responded.

"Well, that's how I helped that Sand Wraith by bringing her food. That whole situation was just weird."

"Why weird?" I asked.

I then saw him scratch the back of his neck, "She thought that the reason I was being nice to her was that...I wanted her as a mate."

"Mate? You mean like lovers?"

"Yes, but when she found out that I wasn't old enough to be her mate, she was still confused about why I was being so nice to her. She was always a leader. She always took charge of her destiny, but the moment her wings broke, and she needed help, she didn't know how to ask. Once she realized that her way wasn't going to work, she allowed me to help her. But she got the wrong message while I was doing it."

He then looked at me. "Enough about me, do you mind if I asked you a personal question?"

I was a little worried when he asked me that, but I said, "Sure, what is it?"

I saw him look a little nervous; he was twiddling his claws around. "What was your father like to you? Or what is he to you?"

I looked at him, confused, but I think he took my facial expression the wrong way. He then said, "I'm sorry, it just your father was a leader too and I wanted to know how that affected your life. Did– has your father made you do something that you didn't want to do?"

I stared at the open ocean, reminiscing all the time I spent with my father. "Yes, my father didn't believe in me at first. Before we had dragons, all I did was invent something to make capturing dragons easier but usually, my inventions ended up destroying some part of the village. When I was 15, all I could think about was killing a dragon to prove to everyone that I wasn't a weakling. I want to do it to make my father proud, but then I met Toothless and the rest is history. My father did force me to go to dragon training and told me to stop being myself, but it all worked out in the end."

"I see, I guess we do have something in common. Our fathers wanted the best for us, but their method of doing it also affected our lives. But I guess not always for the better," Ronde said quietly.

"Hey, Ronde why did you want to ask me that?"

He looked down at me and then towards the open sea and said, "One day, if I decide to go back home, I will have to come face to face with my father again. But I don't know how to feel about him, I still have mixed feelings about everything. I love my father because he is my dad but I hate him for everything he's done to me, what he's put me through. I tried every day to impress him while we were training, but all he did was talk down to me and call me a disappointment. I just don't know what I'll do if I ever see him again."

"Well, I understand what you mean but maybe just try to forgive him. Not all at once, not right away, but eventually. He is your father after all," I said.

He sighed and looked at the horizon. "Actions speak louder than words, and every training session I've been through, I still remember it like it was yesterday. Every Punch, kick and cut I remember crystal clear. Yet, even after all that, I don't remember one time he told me he was proud of me or even told me that he loved me. I can't remember anything nice he's done for me; all I can remember is pain."

I didn't know what to say after that. I mean, his father and mine are very different. His father had more of a forceful approach from what I can tell.

Suddenly, he got up and began to walk back towards the forest. "We can rest for another hour or so. If I'm correct the dragon I'm looking for should be resting somewhere before it moves, or marking its territory. If it does move, we have about three hours before it moves again. The next island is about thirty to forty-five minutes away, so we should make it. But for now, I'm going to change back. I need to be human in order to gain its trust."

I looked at him confusedly, "Wouldn't it be better for you to be a dragon to gain its trust?"

"Under normal circumstances, yeah," he responded. "But the dragon might think I'm crazy if I ask it to be my partner. When we engage the dragon, I just have to be careful."

He walked away from me and went deep inside the forest to the point where I could barely see him. But even from this distance, I could hear his body changing. I heard some pops, the cracking of bones, and a muffled scream.

He slowly walked out of the forest and pointed back the way he came, but he looked pretty spent and wasn't walking right. "Come on, let's look around the forest to see if we can find any fruit to give to the others when we get back."

Both Toothless and I followed him towards the forest. But I noticed how he wasn't walking at his usual pace. At length I had to ask, "Ronde are you ok? We can rest on the beach, if you're not up for this."

"I'm fine, just give me a minute to move around. This is normal for me when I change back from a dragon," he said while walking towards the forest, slightly out of breath.

I followed after him with Toothless behind me.

Ronde was looking above at the trees for fruit. "How does this island not have any fruit or coconuts? This is very unlikely to happen."

"What do you mean?" I asked, "There are all sorts of islands that don't have any natural flora."

"Yes, but look around this is a lush and vibrant forest. These trees have to grow from something, yet I didn't see any acorns or seeds on them. I do see stems on the trees, as if they were picked out recently..."

I noticed him looking at the tree more closely and carefully. "Ronde is everything ok?"

He stared at me then back towards the tree. "I don't know. Looking at these stems, they appear to have been ripped from the fruit recently. But that can't be right… unless..."

"...Something or someone is on this island with us," I said to finish his sentence.

Ronde then looked around the forest. "We need to leave right now. Get on Toothless's back..."

Before I had a chance to respond, he pushed me down on the ground and dropped to the ground beside me, signalling Toothless to do the same.

I was a little bit angry that he pushed me. "Ronde, what the heck—"

He covered my mouth with his hand. "Shhhhh.."

I was about to remove his hand but that when I noticed he was shaking. But before I could question him, I heard something in the distance.

...Thump... Thump….

It sounds like something was walking while dragging something.

Just then, I saw a figure moving around. It was maybe fifteen feet away from us, growing farther, and it was carrying something. The figure was definitely human, but I couldn't tell if it belonged to a Viking or not. But whoever this person was, he was very big. But what was weird was that this person had huge leaves covering his left side, almost like a cloak. But I could barely see it because of the shadow of the trees.

The person put down whatever he was carrying and sat down on a rock.

Then all of a sudden, I heard Ronde whisper something, "No-that's impossible. Why...is...he...here?"

Suddenly, I saw Ronde's face shifting from a worried expression to one of pure rage.

Why is he angry? Does he know that person? I looked closer towards the person, shifting the fronds of a plant blocking my line of sight, and noticed he pulled out a bullhorn from the opposite side of where he was sitting.

A bullhorn? I thought.

That was when I recognised the man's face.

No, I thought he was dead. Why is he even here?

Ronde got even angrier and whispered very quietly, "Drago Bludvist."

Ronde

Of all the things I thought I'd see today, I never would have thought I would see him again!

I knew something was off, and I knew that there was another person on this island. How could I have been so stupid to think it was a good idea to stay on this island to rest?

My anger was beginning to grow with every second I looked at him. All I could see was the army of dragons in his fleet that I couldn't save. I felt so helpless when his army had discovered me. But now, I can hear the cries of dragons on his ship and smell the iron of the blood that poured out of my stomach when he used that damn bullhorn on me!

My body began to move on its own, but I didn't care. All I cared about was ending this madness! Steam started to come out from each pore on my body.

"Ronde, I think we should go before something bad happens," I heard Hiccup whisper.

I didn't care.

I want...

I need justice.

He must pay for everything he has done!

He. Will. Suffer!

I WILL HAVE MY REVENGE FOR EVERY DRAGON AND INNOCENT PERSON HE HAS KILLED!

I quickly dashed through the trees and undergrowth towards him.

Drago heard the commotion barrelling towards him and quickly prepared himself for an incoming attack.

I burst out of the bushes and jumped in the air, preparing to punch or kick him, whatever best suited his first counter.

He grabbed his bullhorn with his right hand and swung it toward me.

I grabbed the bullhorn with my left hand, near the base of the metal, and kicked him solidly in his chest. The force of the kick was enough to make him lose his balance, and he fell over on his back. When he did, the bullhorn slipped from his grasp. I placed my left foot on his right arm, my left leg on his thighs, my right hand tight around his throat and my left ready to slash him. He couldn't move even if he wanted to.

Then I heard his voice and he was smiling. "An assassin sent to kill me? And a young one at that. Go on then, do it."

"YES, DON'T WORRY I'LL MAKE IT SLOW AND PAINFUL," I said darkly.

I raised my left hand and prepared to go for his throat.

"DO IT!" he roared.

I struck down towards his throat. Before I could finish my attack, I heard a desperate voice behind me.

"RONDE, DON'T DO IT!"

I made contact with the ground inches from Drago's throat, only giving him a small cut. It wouldn't even scar.

Hiccup and Toothless were behind me. I heard Toothless growling and Hiccup talking to me. "Ronde, whatever he's done to you it's not worth killing him for it. I know that if you do this, you'll regret it for the rest of your life. You are not a killer."

The moment he said that, the image of blood on my claws appeared in my mind. My father's blood when he attacked me and my instincts took over. That kid's blood when I scratched and bit him as he tortured me. Then, the Bog Burglars raid when I saw blood on my claws.

I was distracted. That was all it took.

Drago took advantage of my hesitation by moving his right arm from under my foot. He grabbed me by my shirt, got up, and threw me towards Hiccup and Toothless.

I braced myself and landed on my feet somewhere near Toothless.

Drago looked at me. "You have vengeance in your eyes, but I've never seen you before, yet you look like one of those Krogan people. Are you one of his offspring or someone from a village I destroyed?"

I have never growled before on purpose when talking while I'm human, but what he just said enraged me and brought out another side of me. "DON'T YOU DARE COMPARE ME TO THAT TRAITOR!"

Hiccup came to stand beside me. "Ronde, just calm down."

I couldn't— I wouldn't. This man was responsible for the destruction of other nations, capturing dragons and making the Warlords grow their armies with the Dragon Hunters and Dragon Trappers. HE MUST PAY!

Drago then spoke again. "Ahh, traitor. You must be from one of his clans, not from the island outside of Afri."

My eyes widened from horror. If he knew of those islands near my home, that means he must have discovered some of the tribes that we were trading with and either destroyed them or recruited some of them to his Army.

But before I had a chance to respond, Hiccup said to Drago, "Even after your defeat, there are still people and dragons suffering because of you. My friends and I had discovered people all over midgard, from farmers who had their homes destroyed, to traders who have had their livelihoods stripped away because of you."

I wandered if we were talking about the same tribes.

Drago laughed dryly. "I see, Dragon Master, hmm, so even to this day my choices are affecting the world, as they should be."

I was about to launch myself at him again, but Hiccup put his hand out to stop me. However, this time I saw something in Hiccup eyes as he was staring at Drago that made me stop.

Then Hiccup spoke. "Drago, where is the Bewilderbeast you used to attack Berk?"

Drago gave him a serious glare and simply stated, "Gone."

"Gone were?" Hiccup shot back.

"Gone, it fell to your dragon so it came to this island to recover and it left me here," he responded, "Where it is now doesn't matter anymore. It's worthless to me."

My rage surfaced once more, and I yelled, "You abused that dragon to follow your every command, yet it is worthless to you because it loses a fight! You rat!"

"I planned to liberate this world from the tyranny of dragons, to control them all and get rid of any threat. No more wars, no more killing one another… The Dragon Master crushed that dream the moment he defeated the king of dragons. I know there are others that have taken my place, and I can't wait to see how the world suffers for not following my ideas for a perfect society."

"You kill without reason, you cause destruction and death wherever you go, yet you call that working towards peace!? You made mountains of bones and broken bodies, yet you think you are the right person to lead others to a peaceful future!?" I yelled incredulously.

Drago sat down on a rock right next to a net full of fruit and fish. "Those who would not blindly follow me were threats. If they didn't join me then, they will try to stop me later. Either you're with me or you're against me, there is no inbetween."

"So what about my home, Afri!? Did you try to invade it while I was gone?" I bit out.

He laughed which caused my anger to grow and then he responded with, "After my Bewilderbeast had control over the dragons, I was going to do just that to see if the ruler of that land would get in my way. But there was no point invading that place without my beast. Even if your people lost the invasion, my armies and dragons would have been diminished. It would have taken me years to replace what might have been destroyed if I had raided that place without control over the dragons."

I was about to yell again, but then Hiccup roughly grabbed my shoulder, pulling me back. I turned around facing him, and he said, "Ronde let's just go. There's nothing he can do while he's here."

I couldn't believe Hiccup just said that when this man had taken his father away from him. He should be madder than I am right now. Yet he's the one who wants to leave?

He walked towards the forest and said, "Come on Toothless, you too. Ronde, let's just find this dragon of yours and go back to Berk."

"But what about him?" I pointed towards Drago, who was eating raw fish from the net.

Hiccup didn't say anything, just kept going towards the forest.

I looked towards Drago. "If I ever run into you again, I won't go for your throat next time. I'll rip out your heart just to feel how cold it is."

He laughed. "I'll be waiting here, Boy."

I ran after Hiccup through the forest, and I found him on the beach waiting for me to get on Toothless and fly off. Once we did, I gave him new directions to follow the path of the Dragon I was looking for.

But after that, neither of us said anything for the past few minutes.

The awkward silence between us was starting to irritate me, so I said, "Why did you want to leave that monster there? He needs to pay for everything he has done."

Hiccup was silent for just a few moments before responding, "I do want justice, but I don't want to end up like him. He has done wrong, but it is not our place to take his life, Ronde. An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind."

I didn't even think about that. Drago's actions have gotten Hiccup's father killed. He must be equally —if not more— angry than I am from seeing him. But I was the only one acting on impulse, I'm such a fool.

But Hiccup then said, "So, I'm guessing you didn't notice it."

I was confused, but before I had a chance to respond Hiccup said, "Now that I think about it, you only had one encounter with him, so you probably wouldn't have noticed."

I spoke, "What do you mean? What was I supposed to notice?"

"Drago has given up on life."

"What?" I said confused.

"He did want you to kill him, and what he said kind of confirmed that. Without his precious Dragon Army and Fleet, he has nothing, he's finished. He is just waiting for his time to run out," Hiccup stated.

I was confused again; there was no way that the self proclaimed Dragon God would do something like that. It didn't make sense to me.

"Ronde did you notice something when he threw you?"

I tried to think about it with clarity now, since I was overcome with rage at the time. There wasn't that much force when he threw me. In fact, when I was distracted he could have grabbed my throat, but instead he grabbed my shirt.

"You were so angry that you didn't notice it, didn't you?" Hiccup asked, studying my expression.

"Yes I was, I'm sorry that you saw me like that."

Hiccup turned towards me. "Ronde, what happened to you? I've never seen you act like that or even close, except maybe the time with the Bog Burglars. Really, what was that?"

Honestly, I was a little worried myself. "I don't know, I was just so angry when I saw him. I had flashbacks of what he did to me and the other dragons on his fleet. It just angered me and I just acted on emotions, I wasn't thinking. I just wanted him to pay."

After a few moments, Hiccup asked me, "Ronde, if that's how you feel about Drago, then how would you react towards your dad?"

The realization of what he said struck me hard, my father has done more things to me than Drago Bludvist has. How would I react if I faced my father? I don't know; I love my father because he is my dad, the person who raised me and I have respect for him, but I just hate him as a person for his actions.

Hiccup was waiting for my response, and I believed I had the answer.

"Hiccup, my hatred for my father stems from everything he has done to me and how he treated me. My mentor and my adopted father were both more like a father then he ever was. Still, I do have my respect for him. He's done many things to make my home more peaceful. I believe I won't act the same way I did today towards him."

Hiccup faced the direction of where Toothless was heading. "Make sure you keep that in mind when you face him, Ronde."

"I'll try, but remember this, Hiccup. You've only met him once. I lived with him for ten years."

"By the way, is that the island?"

I tried to look around him to see what he was talking about. This island was probably where the dragon could rest before it followed another storm. The island was covered in fog but it wasn't so thick to the point where it would be impossible to see through.

"I believe so, go towards it and land in the middle but try your best not to make any noise. The dragon has the element of surprise on its side."

We flew towards the middle of the island in a haze of mist and fog, the atmosphere around me was almost peaceful. I got off Toothless and began looking around the area. We were in an open place with nothing but dirt and rocks in one direction, the forest behind us, but ahead seemed to be nothing but more rocks and dirt.

Hiccup got off of Toothless and whispered, "Why am I getting a feeling of déjà vu right now?"

I didn't respond to him. I was looking around trying to see if there were any signs of life. And as I was walking around I noticed long claw marks on the ground. I leaned closer towards and examined it. These markings were recent, very recent. That means that I was right about this place too, and the dragon could still be here, probably resting, but if we weren't careful we might have been in danger.

I headed towards Hiccup and walked next to him while whispering, "The dragon is very likely to be here but we need to be careful how we go about from here, OK?"

"Ronde, maybe I can be more helpful if you tell me what kind of dragon we are about to face." Hiccup stated with frustration.

I mean, we made it this far, he might have some useful knowledge about it so I guessed it was about time I should tell him. "The dragon we're looking for is a Skri-"

The hair on the back of my head stood up, goosebumps ran up my body. There was a static pressure around me that made every fiber of my body scream. These were my instincts telling me something was wrong, and I was pretty sure I knew the reason.

It was here.

Hiccup was confused when I stopped mid-sentence. "Ronde are you OK?"

I looked around to see any signs of it or at least hear it. But all I could hear was Hiccup questioning me and Toothless growling. He could sense it too.

But in the fog, I noticed a blue light and an unfamiliar crackling sound. That was when I noticed a light getting brighter and brighter.

I soon realized what was happening, I quickly pushed Hiccup towards Toothless and jumped away. In the same second, a stream of lightning almost hit us and scorched the dirt.

Hiccup fell on Toothless, but was looking in the direction where the lightning came from and then back to me. "Ronde, please tell me that not—"

"This was the only dragon that I could think of that could help me. I just need to touch it for a few moments for it to calm down." I said while cutting him off. Naturally, he thought I was insane.

"Do you know how territorial these dragons are?" he asked.

The dragon revealed itself through the vaporous fog and roared while lightning was extruding from its body. The mighty Skrill had its eyes set on me. The dragon was closer to my scale color but it was dark pink with charcoal accents on its scales. Its eyes were pink with pitch-black slits staring at me.

"Amazing." I said, astonished. "This dragon has this much energy and control over lightning? Wow."

The dragon shot another stream of lightning towards me and I barely had time to avoid it. As much as I wanted to admire this dragon I couldn't afford to lose my concentration. I just needed to touch it and maybe it would calm down.

Then the Skrill had its sights set on Hiccup and Toothless. The dragon snarled viciously at them and Toothless was ready to fire a Plasma blast, but I knew that it would only make things worse. So I yelled, "Do not fire, Toothless. It's Already ticked off that we are here."

Toothless didn't fire his blast, but the Skrill was still distracted by them. So at that moment, I ran towards the dragon as quickly as I could and jumped on its back. At the moment of contact, I heard the dragon's thoughts, but I was too busy focusing on holding on to the dragons back to communicate mine.

The Skrill flew in the air and tried to shake me off it's back. I tried to hold its neck but it was difficult, its scales were so smooth that I was sliding off. For some odd reason however, this dragon doesn't have any dorsal spikes on its back; it was just smooth scales.

Which could mean that this is possibly some sort of mutation or this dragon is a f-

My thoughts were cut off when a jolt of electricity pulsed through my body. The Skrill used its abilities to surround its body with lightning. Both the Skrill and I were engulfed in electricity and lightning.

"Ronde!" I heard Hiccup scream my name as I was falling.

But with each passing second, the pain got weaker and less painful. But I lost my hold and fell towards the ground. bBut before I could even react, Toothless caught me mid-air and we landed on the ground.

I was just in a daze. I couldn't concentrate for some odd reason. Something was going through my body that felt foreign yet familiar at the same time. When I was able to think clearly again, I saw Hiccup in my face, checking my pulse.

"Ronde, wake up. Get up please!" he said while repeatedly slapping my face.

I jolted up and looked around.

Hiccup let out a sigh of relief. "Ronde, I thought for a moment you were dead. Are you OK?"

I didn't answer, I just stood up and looked at the Skrill in the sky, slowly descending towards us. I studied my hand, thinking I glimpsed a flicker of static jumping between my middle and index finger.

Hiccup called my name again. "Ronde? Are You ok?"

I looked over to him and tried to get up. "Yeah… I think so. I think my body just adapted and copied the Skrill's abilities at that moment. I think that's why I'm fine right now."

"What? Wait, does that mean you can change into one now?" Hiccup asked.

"I don't know, but I do know it means that I can use it's abilities while I'm the Chimera Dragon. But while I'm like this I have a tolerance to lightning, I guess," I answered.

"So that means that you can't be hurt by the lightning right?"

"Oh no, I said tolerance, not immunity, that lightning stung like hell, that's why I was zoned out for a few moments," I said while looking at the Skrill. The dragon was halfway down to the ground snarling at us with electricity crackling all over its body.

"I heard what the dragon was thinking before it struck me, it wasn't attacking us because we're in its territory. It's attacking because it believes that we're trying to take this place before it has a chance to mark its territory," I turned towards Hiccup. "I can't communicate with it if it's just going to cover itself in lightning again. I might need to change to talk to it."

Hiccup smiled and grabbed my shoulder. "Ronde if you would have told me the type of dragon we would have been dealing with earlier, then this whole process would have been so much easier," he said exasperatedly while pulling something out of his pants pockets. "This isn't my first time dealing with a Skrill, and what I've learned from one of my former enemies is that you need metal to distract a Skrill. But this isn't normal metal so you'll have to be quick."

He pulled out his flaming sword and gave it to me. I looked down at the sword and back to him and said, "What the hell do you want me to do with this? Slay the dragon we've just flown half way across the archipelago to find?"

He slightly laughed and said, "If I remember correctly, the metal properties within the sword can attract this species. I was told that Berserkers used to do this all the time to capture these types of dragons. However, that sword is made from a special type of iron that doesn't easily melt so this might not work, but the fire should be able to distract it long enough for you to touch it and calm it down. But remember to wave the sword slowly to get its attention."

"Why didn't you tell me that you encountered a Skrill before?" I asked.

"I did the day before the meeting when I was telling you my whole life story."

I was slightly embarrassed because I was somewhat tuning out some parts of his story that seemed boring. So maybe it was the way he described the event that made it seem boring.

I spun towards the Skrill who was still snarling at us. "OK, here goes nothing," I said while walking towards the dragon and slowly waving the sword in an arc.

The dragon stopped snarling and descended closer towards me. It's head was tracking the sword, swaying with each movement. I couldn't believe it, this was actually working?

The dragon finally touched the ground, still eyeing the sword. I was in front of the dragon while swaying the sword with my right hand and slowly reaching for it with my left.

I placed my left hand on the dragon's snout, it looked surprised but then I tried to communicate with both mind and my voice and said, "I am not your enemy, we are not here to harm you."

The dragon stopped looking at the sword and stared into my eyes. I sensed a little bit of confusion from the dragon.

Then what happened next shocked me worse than the beast's lightning. The dragon made a warbling noise and asked me in dragon, ("What are you, a Two-leg or a Kin?")

I smiled and said in both mind and in my voice, "I am neither and both at the same time."

The dragon tilted its head in a confused manner. It looked like it trusted me at this moment but I needed to see something to be sure. "I don't know what to call you because I don't know your title but do you mind if I asked you something?"

Hiccup

I couldn't believe what I was seeing, he was talking to the Skrill. And the dragon seemed to be communicating back to him. But now I just needed to wait.

After a few minutes, they seemed to be disgusted by something. They just kept going back and forth as if they were debating something.

All of a sudden the Skrill was engulfed in lightning and Ronde fell over, looking very scared. I was about to run over and help him but then he placed his hand out in front of the dragon and yelled, "ALRIGHT, YOU WIN! You have a deal, just stop doing that!"

The dragon lowered itself to the ground with a smirk on its face looking almost proud of itself. Ronde, however, looked irritated and got up, brushed off the dirt that was on his clothes and walked towards me with the Skrill behind. The Skrill and Toothless locked eyes on one another. Toothless, looking uncharacteristically cautious, took a few steps back. The Skrill, however, was eyeing him weirdly.

Ronde was in front of me, scratching the back of his head but he looked slightly embarrassed, but then I asked, "What the heck was that all about?"

He was still scratching his head when he answered, "The Skrill agreed to be my partner on two conditions."

"What does it want?" I asked.

He looked even more embarrassed and stuck up his index finger., "One: I need to find a place where the dragon can rest on Berk." He put up another finger, counting them off. "Two: I need to help it find a mate either on Berk or outside of it."

"Is that all? The second one might be harder because Skrill's are very rare but I think you can do it. By the way, what are you going to name him?"

Ronde then looked at the Skrill and back to me and laughed.

"What is so funny?" I asked.

He stops laughing and said with a smile, "The Skrill is a girl and she doesn't care if the dragon is the same species as her; she just wants hatchlings or babies. That's why she's eyeing Toothless the way that she is."

"What?" I quickly looked back at the Skrill, examining her eyes. She was looking at Toothless in a very weird way but then she walked away from him and went towards Ronde's side and growled.

"She said she is interested in Toothless but she doesn't believe that it would work between them," he said while rubbing the dragon's snout affectionately.

I could tell Ronde was thinking about something. "A name, however, might be tough however because we both have to agree on it."

"Weerlig? It means lightning where I'm from… No it doesn't sound very female-like… Kom! No, thunderbolt doesn't work either. Maybe I'll just stick with this language and call you Thunder. Is that OK with you?" Ronde asked the dragon.

The Skrill looked towards the sky, stood up with its wings spread out and roared with lightning spreading everywhere. Suddenly it stopped roaring and lowered itself towards Ronde and gently nudged him.

"She approves. But you need to stop doing that!" Ronde yelled with mock anger.

I smiled and said, "Great you gained her trust now let's go home."

Ronde looked at the Skrill and said, "I need to be on your back and we will fly together with them. They can show you your new temporary home."

The Skrill allowed Ronde on it's back, but Ronde looked like he was having a hard time trying to get a hold on the dragon. He had to wrap his arms and legs around the dragon's neck tightly. The Skrill looked back at him and growled in irritation but Ronde said, "It's not my fault you have such smooth scales, I have nothing to hold on to unless you want me to hold on to your head?"

The Skrill then roared at him then looked at me.

"Hiccup, she wants to get to the island right now so if you could lead the way, please. Ideally before I fall off."

I laughed, these two already have an interesting dynamic. I wondered where it would take them in the future. I got on Toothless's back and we flew off towards Berk with Ronde and his dragon following shortly behind.

...Later that afternoon...

We finally made it to Berk. We would have come back quicker, but Ronde fell off the Skrill on three different occasions while flying back here. I didn't understand why he didn't want to change into a dragon or just ride with me and Toothless. But he just continued to hang from the dragon's neck. By the time we got to Berk he was hanging upside down from the dragon's neck. When he finally landed near his house, the Skrill shook Ronde until he let go and then the dragon snarled viciously at him.

"OK, I know but we're here. As you can see, there are plenty of dragons down at the village and you can have a place to sleep on top of that mountain!" Ronde yelled.

The dragon looked at Raven Point and then inspected the house. She was sniffing around then growled at Ronde again.

Ronde looked at me and said, "She wants a tour around the village. Hiccup, I'll handle this. I might just show her to the other Dragon Riders, but you have a duty as chief of this village so I'll see you later."

"Yeah, have fun, Ronde, and please be careful," I said while preparing to fly with Toothless.

"Hey," I heard Ronde say.

I turned around to see what he wanted and he gave me a small smile and said, "Hiccup, thank you for helping me find this dragon. I know that this journey was very unpredictable, with Drago Bludvist and everything, but thank you."

I smiled back, waved him goodbye and flew towards the village back towards my home.

As I was flying, I noticed Astrid was there next to Stormfly. I was scared when she saw me but her expression quickly morphed into one of concern.

"Hiccup!" she yelled, but in a way that showed that she was worried about something.

The moment we landed, I got off of Toothless and ran towards her. "Astrid, what's wrong?" I asked.

She punched me in my shoulder and said, "Today of all days was a bad time to sneak out! But that doesn't matter now. You're here and she is too. Come with me quickly."

She hastily got on Stormfly and flew towards the docks. I hopped on Toothless and followed her. But what does she mean by 'she is too' who is she?

When we got to the docks I noticed a huge ship moored there This ship was at least five times bigger than our ships but it was one single vessel.

Stormfly landed on top of the ship and Toothless and I followed shortly after.

We both got off of our dragons and then Astrid whispered in my ear, "Out of caution, we couldn't allow them inside the village, even though I knew that they don't mean any harm, but I think they're here for him."

"They?" I was even more confused.

Suddenly, I saw someone at the end of the ship looking at the open ocean while someone else was standing next to them. The second person noticed that we were there and informed the first. She started walking towards us and I instantly recognised her.

She stopped in front of us and offered a slight bow, "I'm sorry for coming here unannounced and looking the same as we met before but I didn't bring that many changes of clothes and dresses," The woman said.

Then I remembered who this woman was; this was the Queen of Ronde's country, his mother. "You're the Queen, your name is Neurie, correct?"

She nodded and pointed towards the man on her side, "This is my personal guard and long time friend Skild. You never met him that day."

The man waved nonchalantly at us, looking slightly irritated.

"I don't mean do be rude or anything, but how did you find this place and why are you here?" I didn't know why I even asked the last question because I was pretty sure I knew why.

She looked towards the ground and said, "I thought I told you before, I have scouts that travel the world and report back to expand our world map," this time, she didn't look away as a tear slipped down her cheek, but still tried to mask her emotions behind a strange facial expression that I couldn't even read. Before I could decipher it, she spoke, "The other reason is… That purple dragon… where is it?"

The man named Skild got close and grabbed Neurie's shoulder then said, "Neurie you told me that you wouldn't mention it, you know what you told me is impossible. He's gone."

I knew it, she is here for Ronde.

The Queen ignored him and said to us, "Please that dragon is… he's mine please just give me that dragon back."

As she was crying her guard asked us, "I'm sorry she's just saddened about her son. We can leave if you want, but allow us to stay for the day to rest and buy some food and water. We only have a few days worth and the journey back is close to a month of sailing."

"NO!" the Queen screamed at him and then looked towards us crying harder, "Please just let me see that dragon. I just need to see it, he's my..." she didn't finish her sentence but I think I could fill in the blanks

Her guard raised his voice at her, "Neurie get a hold of yourself, this is no way for a Queen to act!"

I couldn't take seeing her like this, so I asked her something, though I already knew what her answer would be. "Tell me why do you want to see that dragon, your highness?"

She looked at me, clearly distraught, and tried to get her words out, but she couldn't. But then she looked towards the ground and said, "You wouldn't believe me even if I told you. You would think I'm going crazy."

I leaned down to her eye level while she was on the ground and said, "Try me."

She looked in my eyes and I could tell —even though she was hiding it well— that she was in a lot of pain. She stood up and said in confidence, "I believe that purple dragon is my son."

Both me and Astrid shared a look at one another and smiled at the Queen's confession. But her guard was sighing and looked towards us apologetically. "Look, I'm sorry. She has been through a lot and—"

I made a gesture telling him that I had this, and I said to the Queen, "I don't believe it's my place to tell you everything we've discovered about that purple dragon but I think I might be able to arrange something so you can see him."

Her eyes widened and she looked so happy. I knew I'd done the right thing. "You… you know don't you? I wouldn't want anything more, please just let me see him."

"We can talk more about it in our Great Hall. Are you two hungry?" I asked.

"We could eat something," said the Queen.

I waved at them to follow me. "Come on, I'll show you two the way there."

I turned towards Astrid and whispered, "I believe it's better to wait for him to come to us. He has a special surprise to show you guys. But I know for a fact he will get upset if we tell him his mother is here. So we'll wait and I'll deal with these two."

"OK, but I think it's better to lead him there, he may get upset but he needs this."

"OK, you do that. He should be walking around the village with a very special dragon following him," I whispered.

Astrid was confused but then she said, "Okay," and went ahead to find Ronde.

"Alright, you two let me show you around Berk."

Many miles away across the sea, on an island surrounded by hundreds of boats, the Dragon Hunters, former dragon trappers and people from other tribes were gathering. One person entered the hall to meet with the Warlords.

As soon as he got a glimpse of them the man quickly bowed. But this person was frightened by their presence and began to shake and sweat nervously, but quickly introduced himself to them. "H-hello my King and Queen."

The female Warlord noticed him and smiled. "Ah, you must be here with great news. Tell me, did the Bog Burglars capture the chief of Berk and his dragon?"

The man flinched, he knew if he said the wrong thing he would be killed on the spot. "My queen, they failed, they didn't manage to capture the chief and he escaped."

The room became quiet, the man knew that was a very bad sign.

The female Warlord screamed, "THEY FAILED?! THEN WHY ARE YOU HERE!? IF YOU CAME HERE JUST TO TELL ME THAT, I WILL KILL YOU WHERE YOU STAND!"

He took a few steps back and desperately yelled, "I have more to tell! It's good but—"

She was getting impatient and was rapidly stopping her foot on the ground like a spoiled child. "But What? Out with it!"

"I have good news and bad news, but I think it's better if I start with the good news first so it can all make sense." The man inhaled before saying, "The boy that has been causing trouble for us has been eliminated."

What the man said arrested the attention of the other two Warlords, "What do you mean?

"While the Bog Burglars were raiding Berk, the boy was there for some odd reason, but the altercation caused some of their warriors to be severely hurt and captured. The leader of the raid shot their special darts at the chief's Night fury and the dragon attacked the boy by shooting its fire at the boy's face. The Bog Burglars mentioned that even if the boy is somehow still alive, he would have been blinded and incapable of interfering with our work again."

The female Warlord raised an eyebrow. "And how do you know that they're not lying?"

The man pulled out something he was holding on to and tossed it over to the Warlords, "Because of this," he said.

The Warlords examined the object. I looked like a shirt made out of scales, but it was poorly fashioned. "What is that?"

"They told us they couldn't bring the body as proof, but they saw that this boy had that underneath his shirt. So they brought that to prove that they really had an encounter with the boy. I had it looked at, the people who have encountered him all say that he had that on so we gave the Bog Burglars the boy's bounty."

"This is good news and now all that's left is to get rid of the Dragon Riders." She said darkly while smiling. "Tell me what the bad news is. This is a day of celebration."

"Once we gave the Bog Burglars the boy's bounty, we were going to assign them to their next mission, but the next day, their entire island was deserted. The Bog Burglars are gone."

"What do you mean their go—" she stops mid-sentence before looking at the man in anger. She pulled out a knife. "THOSE TRAITORS!"

The man looked scared and tried to back away. "Wait, my Queen, I'm just a messenger!"

She threw the knife between the man's legs and marched toward him. "Yes, you are a messenger, so I need you to send someone a message."

"What kind of message? And who am I sending it to?" the man asked, concerned and confused.

"Find Grimmel the Grisly and tell him we need his help to find a dragon." The female Warlord turned towards the other Warlords and said, "My comrades I think it's about time for us to meet our special friend in Afri. He's of royal lineage so he can pull some strings for us to get in and meet him, but grab your robes. We'll be defenseless, and if we're caught will be killed on sight. But the reward will be worth it, knowledge is the best poison, after all."

She turned towards the man who was still on the ground, shaking like a frightened child, "What are you still doing here? Get going!"

The man scrambled away towards the docks.

"The journey should be a week and a few days. He knows we're coming. Let's set sail, my comrades," she commanded.

The other two Warlords prepared themselves for the journey and made their way down to the docks, boarding their flagship and heading towards Afri, Ronde's Home.

-Author's note-

Grimmel is not making an appearance in this book, that was just a way for my story to connect with How to Train Your Dragon the Hidden World.

I believe there are more than 9 chapters left or less than 15 but we are near the end of the story. When that happens I'll explain what's going on with the prequel in the final chapter of this story but for now, I'm out, be safe.

Please if you live in the US or anywhere that has this virus please be safe keep your hands washed during this time. This virus absolutely turns this nation upside down. The media is overreacting to this in some portion but this is a serious matter. My school has shut down and now we're doing online classes. I'm having a hard time finding an internship for graphic design or at least one that pays but I have to start from somewhere. Just please be safe.