(A/N: For those of you who are new, or just as a reminder, I'm still going to be switching around the episodes, the episodes of these chapters onward until the final chapter will be from "Defenders of Berk", nothing from "Riders". I just want everyone to know this, just because an episode of two wasn't written about, that doesn't mean it never happened. Now that we're all caught up, this chapter takes place in the episode "The Night and the Fury". I hope everyone enjoys what they read.)

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These past couple of months have been very interesting for everyone, to say the least. However, they were also a learning experience for them as well, the Dragon Riders and the people of Berk alike.

First, Stoick placed a ban on flying because he didn't want the riders, especially his son, to be in any danger. So, they did what reasonable teenagers would do, they started their own secret dragon flying club, they would fly only at night. It wasn't long afterwards that it was discovered that Stoick was also secretly flying his dragon at night, too.

Not long after this, Alvin arrived with his armata and released a herd of Changewings on Berk. They were able to lead them away and he retreated back to Outcast Island. They weren't sure what he was up to and, frankly, they didn't care, as long he was gone.

Stoick lifted the ban on flying the next day, it turned out that he was wrong to ban flight because if he had kept it they would have all been killed. Regardless, they were just happy to finally be back in the air with no restrictions.

Next, Fishlegs was on patrol when he spotted an Outcast ship near their island, he went back to the Academy to grab the others. When they got to the location though, the ship was gone, it had already left. Everyone was unanimously against Fishlegs for being too slow, including Hiccup, and he and Meatlug flew away.

When they came back, Meatlug started to spew an unusually colored lava that was made into a metal called Gronckles Iron. Very beautiful, very effective, and light-weight, perfect for battle.

However, all good things must come to an end. Meatlug was unable to produce more lava, so Fishlegs and Gobber fed her a variety of rocks. One of the rocks fed to her was magnetic, causing all of the metallic objects to be attracted to her body, it scared her and she could have destroyed the town.

An Outcast ship was spotted at that same moment while they struggled to calm her down, they were unsure of what to do because there were two major problems that had to be dealt with. In the end, they used the magnetic rocks in her stomach to their advantage, the Outcasts on that ship never saw it coming.

In addition to all of this, there were some changes going on with Helene and Smog. After being fearful of her father for her entire life she could finally feel herself healing emotionally, she was beginning to get over her fears and no longer thought about the malice that she had to endure. All the while, her dragon was now a fully grown adult, he wasn't much bigger as an adult than as an adolescent, but he certainly acted as such, he was now a lot more protective of her, as if he wasn't before.

Now that he's older and bigger, he really started to give into his natural instincts to collect metal. He's collected metal from every inch of the island, but he only takes old metallic objects and scrap, nothing new and intact, he doesn't want the people to hate him for stealing their favorite weapons.

He had to move his nest to the floor of her bedroom because the table it previously sat on was now too small. He took up an entire corner of her room with his nest getting bigger by the day.

They had been through a lot in that time, a lot of change on both sides, and although the future was unpredictable, they would get through it together. They were in this together until the end.

Everyone was in the Academy one afternoon, listening to the latest training exercise. Unfortunately, it was Astrid's turn to pick the exercise this time. Thor help them.

"Your training missions are so hard!" Fishlegs groaned.

"They are not," she responded, somewhat in disbelief.

Fishlegs raised his bandaged hand, "Hand-to-Claw Combat?"

"Spine-Dodging?" Snotlout added.

"Hot Lava-Swimming?" Tuffnut added too, even though it was something they never did.

"We never did that," she pointed out.

"Yeah, but you should've," he smiled. "Way better than Hand-to-Claw Combat."

"Don't give her any ideas, Tuff," Helene uttered. "Sorry, Astrid, but I'm with them on this one. Not everything has to be in preparation for a war, you know?"

"Well, this mission is easy. Dragon Island," she pointed at a map of the said island. "You just have to go from this beach on the East side to this cave on the West side."

'Okay,' Helene thought, 'that doesn't seem too bad.'

She then added, "In the dark." That caused everyone to groan. "With no camping gear." More groaning. "And no dragons." Now, everyone was angry and annoyed with her.

'Of course,' she thought with an eye roll.

"What?! That's crazy! What's the point?!" Snotlout practically snapped.

"To work on our stealth skills and our wild dragon defense," she answered.

Of course, Hiccup had to side with Astrid on this one, "Astrid's right. We all know how strong we are with our dragons, but we have to be able to survive and defend ourselves if we ever get separated from them."

They hate it when he's able to make sense of the situation. But that seems to be a part of his charm, which he's most likely not even aware of.

"Trust me, it'll be fun," she smiled.

"No offense, Astrid, but 'fun' to you is climbing a mountain with your bare hands in the middle of winter," Helene pointed out.

"Oh, please don't give her any ideas, Hele," Hiccup muttered.

At sunset, everyone was on their dragons and en route to Dragon Island. Most of them didn't even want to go - and their dragons agreed - but Hiccup did have a point about being able to survive without their dragons with them.

It was dark by the time they arrived on the East side beach on the island. Although camping gear wasn't allowed, they were allowed to bring lanterns and one survival item. The item Helene brought was rope, she had roughly fifteen feet of it, not much, but it was enough for the exercise.

"Okay, one of us is gonna have to skip the drill and take the dragons to the cave on the other side of the island," Hiccup announced. "That way they won't try and help us."

As if on cue, a wild Deadly Nadder suddenly appeared and made an attempt to attack them. Their dragons got in the way to protect them and chased it away.

That proved his point. "Just like that. Okay, so who's going to watch the dragons."

"Well, I think the obvious choice is-" Fishlegs tried to volunteer, but Tuffnut beat him to it.

"Me! I volunteer!" he raised his hand.

"But- But I have more dragon knowledge," he protested.

"Yeah, from a book, but I… I feel them," he put a hand on his heart. "In here. Wait, where is it?" He moves his hand to his stomach. "In… In here. Yeah, in my stomach. Besides, I did say "Me" first!"

"I can't believe I'm saying this, but Tuffnut is right," Hiccup agreed. "Fishlegs, no one can deny your dragon knowledge, but if Alvin attacks with wild dragons, we need to be able to face them. Any time of the day or night, on our own, without help."

"I hate it when you make sense!" he mumbled.

'Nice try, Fishlegs,' Helene thought with a small smile.

With that established, it was time for everyone else to begin the mission. Which meant it was time for them to say goodbye to their dragons.

Helene crouched down and patted Smog on the head, "Be good, okay?" She stood up and began to walk away, he got in front of her and squawked in concern. She smiled softly and reassuringly, "Don't worry, boy, everything will be alright. I'll be fine."

Tuffnut started to walk away with the dragons and suddenly asked, "Hey, anyone know where this cave is?" Everyone looked at him in disbelief. "Just kidding!" he laughed. "Or am I? Even I don't know!"

He eventually left with the dragons and that left them to continue on with the mission. Before that happened, Hiccup made sure to tell them why they were doing the exercise in the first place.

"Remember, this is about stealth, not speed. It doesn't matter how fast you get there. What's important is how you handle a wild dragon if you ever come across one," he proclaimed. "Understand? Alright, good luck, everybody. I'll see you back at the cave."

And with that the training mission had begun. Everyone ran off in different directions to avoid running into each other. While there was certainly strength in numbers, they had to test themselves on their own.

While everyone else went into the forest, Helene decided to take a different route. She decided that it might be best to go high instead of staying on the ground. No one would ever see it coming, especially if they were bound to the ground.

She tied the rope she carried to the handle of her lantern, then wrapped up what she didn't use and started to climb the rocky side of a ridge. Due to a lifetime on a ship, she had a lot of climbing experience since she was the one who would climb the mast to release the sail, something she's done countless times for over half a decade by that time.

She made it to the top and walked along the uneven, narrow path. She held the lantern in her hand once she untied it after she reached the top.

While one might consider her to be insane for choosing to leave herself out in the open, this was actually one the best places to be. If she had to sneak up one someone who was on the ground, the best type of ambush would be from above. Underground would be a good option as well, but she wasn't going to train a Whispering Death anytime soon.

Also, this path would take her to the other side of the island. Just because this wasn't a race doesn't mean there's any harm in arriving at the cave first.

She also wanted to get back to her dragon as soon as possible. And she was sure her dragon might be thinking the same thing. She mused about how hilarious it would be if he really was thinking about her at that moment.

While she did still have a slight fear of heights, she had mostly gotten over it. So when she looked down at the forest parallel to her, she wasn't afraid of potentially falling, although she would be lying if her hands and feet didn't feel cold out of nervousness.

The path began to get wider and flatter, which allowed her to walk more comfortably. It also allowed her to walk quicker than before, at that rate she would be at the cave in no time.

She stopped in her tracks momentarily when she saw an orange light in the trees, most likely from the flames of a dragon. While she was some distance away, the flame appeared to be similar in coloration to a Monstrous Nightmare. She wondered if one of her friends had come across one and was currently running away from it. She shook her head in amusement with a smile before she continued onward.

After sometime, she heard some kind of scratching. It sounded like nails on wood, very hard, thick wood. She continued towards the sounds out of curiosity, perhaps it was a dragon in distress.

The sounds got louder, so much so that she knew that she was right on top of it. She looked down, there was a slight clearing directly below the side of the ridge and in that clearing she saw the source of the scratching. It was from a Changewing. It was clawing at the truck of a tree, as if trying to peel it open.

She wondered what could be inside the tree that it so desperately wanted. She wondered if perhaps its egg was stuck in the wood and couldn't get it out. If that was the case, it made sense that it didn't want to get it out with its acid, it could harm it.

She knew that all she had to do was walk away from this and the Changewing may not even notice she was there, but her compassion wouldn't let her. She was a very compassionate and caring person, she could see the good in some people, and dragons too. That was how and why she had the courage to train Smog instead of running away.

She also knew how territorial they were and how they rarely hesitate to shoot their acid at anyone. That combined with their camouflage makes it virtually impossible to avoid them and make out with your life.

Against her better judgement, she started to climb down to the forest floor. Once again, she tied the rope to the handle of the lantern so that it was easier to carry.

The Changewing heard the soft tap of her shoes on the rocks and later the crunching of dead leaves and sticks and turned around. It roared at her and shot a stream of acid, she ducked and it hit a boulder.

That just showed how vicious these dragons were and perhaps proved that what she was doing was suicide. However, she still believed that she could get through to this dragon, figure out what was wrong with it and help it.

She calmly stood erect and started to slowly walk towards the bright red dragon. The lantern was still attached to the rope and it swayed from side to side, creating an almost hypnotic yellow light.

This caught the attention and curiosity of the Changewing. It followed the movements by moving its head, its pupils moved in rhythm to the lantern.

She slowly and carefully made her way over to the tree, making sure to keep the lantern swaying. She discovered an opening and peered into it, she saw that there was a nest in the truck. Not just any nest, it was actually a beehive, with lots of honey.

Now it all made sense. Changewings like to snack on honeycomb, which was the waxy shell that contained the honey itself. It also explained why it didn't use its acid to get to it, it doesn't want to damage its food. It was clawing at the tree hoping to scare the bees out of their hive, but it wasn't enough.

She didn't like to handle bees because their stingers, but she knew how to get them out of the hive. One of the many benefits of interacting with many merchants and traders, her father among them.

She set the lantern on the ground and opened it, much to the alarm of the Changewing, but also piquing its curiosity again. She gathered together some vegetation and clenched it into a ball. She then picked up a stick and stuck it inside, it caught fire and she brought it to the forest material in her hand. It caught fire too and she blew on it to put it out, leaving smoke in its wake.

She put the smoking vegetation into the entrance to the hive, using the stick to push it in. The smoke would do the rest.

The bees began to fly out of their hive in a swarm, many dying almost immediately, others still very much alive. And they looked like they were out for blood.

They did a loop and started to fly in her direction. She gasped when she saw this, but before the voracious insects could reach her, the Changewing stepped in front of her. It sprayed the bees with its acid, killing all of them instantly.

With that out of the way, it proceeded to use its acid to bring the tree down. Then it used its sharp claws and fangs to tear apart the bark and wood to expose the beehive and its sweet contents.

It began to eat the honeycomb and lap up the honey. She decided to leave it be and began to take her leave.

Before she could get too far, it came up to her with some of the honeycomb in its mouth. It dropped it in her hand and mellowly growled in appreciation.

She placed her hand on its snout, "You're welcome."

She started to walk away, eating the honeycomb as she did. It was one of the sweetest things she had ever eaten and she loved it. It pays to be compassionate.

She climbed back up to the top of the ridge and started to walk along the path again. She was ready to complete the training mission and get back to her dragon.

Sometime later, she unconsciously looked to the side and saw a faint yet slightly bright orange light in the distance. This time, she knew that it wasn't the flame of a dragon, it was a campfire, but what was a campfire doing on Dragon Island? They weren't allowed to have a fire while on this mission, which meant that it had to be from someone else, but who?

This wasn't any of the other Dragon Riders or even wild dragons in a quarrel, no, this was something else, or someone else. And she wanted to know who or what it was.

She continued to walk along the top of the ridge until she could see the light better. She could see smoke coming from it, that confirmed that it was, in fact, a campfire, the question now was who set it? It had to be someone who had no knowledge that they would be on Dragon Island, which could be any number of people.

She began to climb down the rocks again and make her way to the campfire. Her navigational skills were fairly decent, she would eventually find it.

It took her a little while, but she found the location of the campfire and discovered a horrifying sight. Dragon bones. There was a Monstrous Nightmare skull hung on a tree and what looked like the bones of the lower half of a Terrible Terror.

She started to look around the camp, trying to figure out who would commit such heinous acts, with her luck she might find something that points to one person, her father. She might not be as afraid of him, but she was still afraid of him potentially snapping her neck someday.

Then, she discovered a shield and saw the symbol on it. It was the symbol of the Berserker Tribe.

She gasped, "Dagur, he's here! He's hunting dragons!"

She immediately got out of that area, she had to find her friends. They had to get their dragons and get off that island. If she knew anything about Dagur it's that he doesn't give up when he really wants something.

She stood frozen in her tracks when she heard rustling in the bushes. Her lantern still hung by the rope, she was ready to use it like a mace if so needed.

Whatever it was in the bushes jumped out and she swung at it. She stopped herself from doing anything more when she saw that it was Smog! Why was he out in the forest? How did he find her?

She knelt down and scratched him affectionately, she was very happy to see him and that he was alright. "What are you doing here? How on Earth did you find me?"

He started squawking rapidly and worriedly, he ran back into the bushes. She quickly ran after him to figure out what he was trying to tell her.

He led her to the other riders, minus Ruffnut and Tuffnut, they had reunited with their dragons too and were mounting them. They looked ready to find the twins, their dragon, and Hiccup and Toothless and get off the island.

"What's going on, guys?" she asked.

"Dagur's here and he's hunting Toothless," Astrid informed her quickly.

"What?!" she shrieked. "Well, where's Hiccup?"

"He's with Dagur," she responded.

"Okay, uh, you guys go find Ruff and Tuff, Smog and I will find Hiccup," she stated.

She nodded, "Good luck to both of you."

She looked down at her dragon, "Let's go, boy." He flew up and squawked.

He started to fly away and she took off after him. With any luck, they might be able to find Toothless before Dagur does.

They eventually came to a clearing on the edge of a cliff. There, they found Hiccup, Dagur, and Toothless. Dagur had his crossbow aimed at Toothless, who attempted to take cover behind a rock near the edge.

Smog was about to make his move to save them, but she stopped him. "No, Smog, not like that. If we're going to save them, we have to be stealthy."

She climbed up some rocks and came to a rest in an area covered by trees. Her dragon followed her and sat next to her to await an order.

She remembered the trick she used to blind the Berserkers and disarm Dagur the last time they saw him. If it worked then, it might work now.

"Smog," she whispered, getting his attention. She pointed at Dagur and did the hand gesture for 'smoke screen'.

He got the message and immediately went down there to do as commanded. He began to let out smoke while flying in circles to spread around. This disoriented Dagur, but Hiccup knew exactly what was going on, as did Toothless.

He took advantage of this and shot plasma blasts at him. However, this seemed to make him angry and make his bloodthirst even more unquenchable. He began to make his way towards the rock and Toothless with his crossbow ready to shoot.

Hiccup, fed up with Dagur, finally snaps, "Okay, that's it! I'm not going to let you kill that dragon!"

Annoyed by this, he scoffs and rolls his eyes, "This again? Fine, you saw it first, you can take home a wing or something." He turned his attention back to Toothless.

Smog desperately wanted to go in for an attack and looked back at his trainer for an approval. She shook her head though and made a gesture telling him to stand down.

"No, I'm pretty much gonna take the whole thing." He did his dragon call and Toothless climbed to the top of the rock and roared at Dagur.

He leaped over him, knocking him to the ground in the process, and went to Hiccup. It was then that Dagur saw the saddle on his back and his artificial tail.

"Is that a-?" he started to ask.

"Saddle?" Hiccup finished. "Yes, Dagur, that's exactly what it is."

"So, I was-" he started, gritting his teeth slightly.

Hiccup finished again, "Right all along." He mounted his dragon and inserted his leg into the peddle. "We do not kill dragons on Berk. We ride them."

"Your father lied to- you lied to me!" he yelled.

"He was trying to keep the peace between our tribes," he responded. "So was I."

"By making a fool out of me?!" he snapped, his voice squeaky and wrenched, almost sounding like a whine.

"You don't need a lot of help with that, Dagur," he remarked with contempt.

He immediately goes for a weapon on his belt, but Toothless growls at him, causing him to stop out of fear. He might be deranged, but he wasn't completely insane.

"Your move," Hiccup's tone of voice was mildly threatening.

Dagur was hurt by this revelation and when you have the title of "Deranged", that means bad news for your enemies. "You could have been my brother, Hiccup! Now, you're my enemy."

"Have it your way, but remember, we have the dragons and we're not afraid to use them," he asseverated.

Helene silently nodded to herself, 'That's right, Hiccup.'

He tapped Toothless on the head, "Let's get out of here, bud."

Deeply upset by this revelation and filled with bloodthirsty rage, Dagur throws a bola at Toothless just as he and Hiccup take to the sky. The bola snags on his tail, which causes them to fall back to the ground. More bolas were thrown, which wrapped around the body and mouth of Toothless.

He draws his sword and goes in for a kill, but Hiccup uses his shield to protect his best friend. Dagur draws back his sword and raises it for another attack, but it was suddenly taken from him. The thief was none other than Smog.

Hiccup grinned, "Smog! And that means…" He looked behind him and saw Helene hiding in the trees. She waved at him with a smile.

Smog threw the sword aside and used his tail to slice off the bolas and free Toothless. By that time, Dagur had his crossbow back in hand and had it aimed at Smog. Toothless saw this and used a plasma blast to knock it out of his hands.

Hiccup mounts Toothless again, inserting his leg into the peddle again as well. Dagur tried for his crossbow again, but another plasma blast was shot at him as a warning. To the surprise of Hiccup, he actually backs off, he's done getting shot at.

They turn around and get ready for flight, but little did they know, Dagur wasn't done with them yet. His target wasn't Toothless though, it was Smog. Without him, it would be easier to capture and kill the Night Fury and the ninety-pound boy in his way.

He took out another bola and threw it at Smog as he flew with Hiccup and Toothless to get back to his trainer. It wrapped around his body and he fell to the ground. He squawked frantically and screeched as he tried to untangle himself. Dagur came up to him with a small dagger in hand and a wicked smile on his face.

"Smog! No!" Helene screamed. She began to breathe heavily when she saw the scene unfolding below.

Hiccup didn't know what to do, if he turned around there was a very good chance that Smog would be killed, if doesn't that meant his chances of survival were slim to none. He felt stuck. He wanted to save him, he was Helene's dragon and friends with Toothless, but Dagur wouldn't care if he was about to kill the pet of Thor, he would kill him just for his own amusement.

The same thing could be said for Helene. She felt like a sitting duck, she was watching as her dragon was struggling to survive and she couldn't do a thing.

Then, Dagur suddenly backed away when something was suddenly shot at his feet. It wasn't a plasma blast or a fireball, it was acid, green acid.

Hiccup gasped, "Acid? But that means…"

He looked up and watched as a Changewing suddenly became tangible, it was clung to the rocks near Helene. It roared at Dagur and shot more acid at him, causing him to run off, he might be crazy, but he wasn't crazy enough to deal with a wild Changewing. He ran away and Toothless shot at him again, causing him to roll down the side of the cliff.

"Uh, who's this?" Hiccup asked.

She crossed her arms and smiled, "Just a dragon helping another dragon in need." She looked up at the Changewing, "Or the friend of a friend."

Smog used his tail to free himself and rejoined his trainer. He brought his head to her forehead and purred.

"I'm happy you're alright, boy," she petted his head.

She got onto Toothless' back and held onto Hiccup as they took to the air. She looked back at the Changewing and frowned, after all it did to help them, the least it deserved was a small reward.

"Hiccup," she tapped on his shoulder, "do you have any spare fish?"

"Uh, yeah, I do," he replied, taking out a perch from a saddlebag.

She took it from him, "Thanks."

She threw it down at the red dragon, who caught it in its mouth, eating it. It roared at her in satisfaction and gratefulness. She smiled down at it and turned around, sometimes it's the simple things that are the most rewarding.

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(A/N: How did you like the new chapter? It's a long one, but I hope everyone enjoyed it as much as I did. I did have a little fun with some parts of this.

I appreciate everyone waiting for the chapters to start up again. I had a lot of stuff going on, so that took up a bit of my time. I also had a little writer's block with a few parts and scenes, but I got over it enough to finish this.

Please continue with the poll you guys, it's going to be taken down no later than chapter 16. That might seem like a long time, but it's going to be here a lot sooner than you think. Don't wait until the last minute.

I'm glad to be back and I just want to wish everyone a Merry Christmas Eve and a Merry Christmas. Stay safe and have fun.)