(A/N: In case you missed it, this is the first part of the two-part episode "A View to the Skrill". I know I've said this a number of times, but this chapter and the next are going to be a bit challenging for me and, this time, I mean it.
For those of you who missed it, the previous chapter was one of great character development for Helene and Smog, at least in my opinion. The reason I'm bringing this up is because of something that will happen in this, I'm not going to say anymore.)
0-Y-0~X~*~X~0-Y-0
In a dark room lit only by torches, a man sat on his throne, a young man sat across from him. They were in the middle of a discussion about a potential alliance between their tribes.
"So," the young man started, "tell me why my men and I should join this alliance between you and your rejects?"
He clenched the arms of his throne in anger, but managed to not snap, "Because I know where to find what you're looking for."
He tilted his head to the side slightly, "Oh, and where would that be?"
"Nice try, but I'm no fool," he chuckled.
He sat back in his seat, "Okay, so how about we reach some kind of agreement? You tell me what you want and you tell me what I want to know."
He furrowed his brows and leaned forward, "I want you to find my daughter."
It's been nearly two weeks since Twirl laid her and Smog's egg, it hasn't hatched yet but everyone was eager for when it would. Fishlegs was already coming up with potential names and drew sketches of what the hybrid offspring might look like when it eventually came out of the egg.
Smog's been spending most of his time with his mate and unhatched offspring and although she was happy for them, Helene couldn't help but to feel a little abandoned. She loves being with Astrid and Stormfly and all of her friends, but it doesn't feel the same without her best friend. The only time they seem to spend any time together is when she's in her room for the night.
He's still very protective of her and doesn't like it when she's off Berk. He tries to go with her whenever she leaves the island, but doesn't like to leave his mate and egg for too long.
This mission was one of those times where he was with her. They were flying north to find Bucket and Mulch, they hadn't been seen or heard from in days. Stoick was worried, so he sent Helene, Astrid, Snotlout and Hiccup to search for them.
It was very cold and there was even some snow falling, Astrid was freezing and Snotlout was the only one who was lucky with a dragon who could ignite himself. With her long-sleeved shirt, Helene wasn't as cold as her, but she was still cold enough to have a growing numbness dance on her skin.
"We're getting pretty far north!" Astrid called out to Hiccup.
"Bucket and Mulch are two days overdue," he reminded her. "We need to keep searching."
"You don't really think they're up here, do you?" she rubbed her arms.
"You can't take the cold, huh, Astrid?" Snotlout jeered.
"No, I just don't have a heated seat like you do," she glared at him.
"That's right, you don't!" he chuckled. He snapped his fingers and Hookfang's body heated up for him. "Ah! Toasty."
They flew a little longer and shouting could be heard from somewhere below. Helene looked over the side and saw two boats docked at an iceberg. One of the ships was the fishing boat Bucket and Mulch took the day they left, the other was a Berserker ship.
"Look!" she pointed down. "Down there!"
Hiccup looked down and saw them, "I see them. Looks like they're in trouble. Let's go, bud."
Surprisingly, Bucket and Mulch were able to take care of themselves against the Berserkers very well. Mulch hit a few of them with an eel he swung around, while Bucket simply threw them overboard.
Once the boarded Berserkers were taken care of, the remaining ones aimed their crossbows at them. "Surrender or-"
The Berserkers ducked away when Stormfly's spines suddenly flew by them. Next, Snotlout flew down while laughing and Hookfang fired at the deck of the ship. Finally, Toothless shot his plasma blasts into the water, causing the Berserker ship to drift away.
"Retreat! Retreat!" one of the Berserkers cried.
Once they were gone, they landed on the deck of the ship. They got off their dragons, who stood on guard in case the Berserkers decided to come back.
"What happened here?" Hiccup questioned.
"Well, we thought the Berserkers had hit an iceberg," Mulch explained, "an-and so we came in to help. They attacked us. Because we saw it."
Hiccup and Astrid looked at each other and asked in unison, "It?"
They got off the ship and he led them to a particular area of ice where there were ice picks and axes strewn about. He pointed at it, but not at the ice itself, at what was inside, "It!"
Hiccup could see something inside, but wasn't sure what it was. "That looks like a…" he rubbed his sleeve on the ice, "...dragon."
"Why would Berserkers be trying to dig it out?" Helene asked.
"No idea," he picked up one of the abandoned ice picks, "but I'm going to find out."
Snotlout scoffed, "Oh, great, now we have to dig it out?"
"Actually, I have a much better idea," he looked back at Toothless, who was rolling around in the snow.
They dug out a block of ice around the Dragon and tied ropes around it. Then, they tied the other ends of the ropes to the saddles of Stormfly and Hookfang. Bucket and Mulch waved goodbye from their ship as the riders flew away with the frozen dragon.
They arrived back at Berk with the ice block and took it to the Academy, where it sat in the center. Fishlegs and the twins were already there when they arrived there and were shocked by what they came back with.
"I say we smash it!" Snotlout cracked his knuckles.
"I say we blast it!" Tuffnut put forward as he and Ruffnut climbed on top of the block.
"I say we blast it, then smash it!" Ruffnut added.
"Then blast it again!" They finished in unison.
"Stop saying what I'm saying, now!" he shouted.
Hiccup rolled his eyes, "Yeah, that's certainly one approach."
Tuffnut cleared his throat as he and Ruffnut got down from the ice, "Good sir, I believe it is actually three approaches, my fine fellow."
"Let's just get a better look at this thing," he uttered. "Fishlegs, give us a slow burn."
"With pleasure. Meatlug," he whistled for her, "lava blast."
She got up from where she was laying down and shot at the ice. It melted only half of it, but it was enough to get a clearer view of the dragon inside.
Hiccup and Fishlegs went up to the ice to see what kind of dragon it could be. Unfortunately, the dragon they saw was the last thing that they could have thought of, and it explained why the Berserkers wanted it.
"Is that what I think it is?" Hiccup inquired, his voice beginning to grow nervous.
"I think so, but I've only seen pictures," Fishlegs answered.
"Do you realize how huge this could be, Fishlegs?" he asked.
"The word 'epic' comes to mind," he responded.
"I hate when they get like this," Astrid groaned.
"Same," Helene sighed.
"Don't you just-" Snotlout tried to put his arm around Astrid, but she swatted him away.
They finally walked away from the ice and began to make their way out. If they were right about what could be frozen inside of the block, this would be a huge problem.
"I should check the book of dragons to be sure about this," Fishlegs nervously uttered.
"Yeah, good idea. If we're right, this could be big trouble," Hiccup responded.
Astrid ran off after them, "If someone doesn't start filling me in, I'm getting my axe!"
Snotlout and the twins gave each other devious looks. As if he could read their minds, Hiccup came back around the corner, "No one touches that ice while we're gone." All three held up their hands. "Helene, you're in charge."
She crossed her arms and gave them a slightly triumphant look. She gave them a slight smirk with a raised eyebrow.
While they waited for the others to return, she stood by the ice block unless they tried to do something with it. She saw the twins mount their dragon and gave them a look while Smog, who was sitting on the ground beside her, growled at them, they raised their hands defensively. When she looked away, they immediately began to devise a plan to get her away from the ice.
Tuffnut took out a stone from his tunic, tossing it in his hand, he and Ruffnut snickered. Snotlout winked at them, as if telling them to put their plan into action.
While Helene wasn't looking, he tossed the rock and it broke something, it sounded like ceramic. She heard that and went to investigate the sound, Smog went with her in case she needed any help.
She found what broke, it was a pot or something like it and saw the stone Tuffnut threw. She heard the three of them holler and shout as they had their dragons fire at the block. Smog pushed her to the ground as an explosion lit up the entire arena.
She stood up when it passed over and she was visibly shaking, "What have you done?"
The entire area was full of smoke from the explosion, it was impossible to see anything. It wasn't until aftera sound similar to the sound of something dissolving and a growl were heard that they knew that something was wrong, very wrong. But all they could do was stare at the damage.
"It's not that bad," Ruffnut tried to sound a little optimistic.
"Yeah, maybe Hiccup won't even notice," Tuffnut tried to be optimistic, too.
"No, he's definitely gonna notice," Snotlout chimed in.
The smoke and steam from the ice cleared enough for them to see the now unfrozen dragon. Now, they were faced with a big problem, the dragon wasn't dead, it was alive. To make matters worse, the dragon was a Skrill, a fierce dragon and the symbol of the Berserker tribe.
"Yeah, for sure, definitely, he's gonna know," Tuffnut finally admitted.
The Skrill growled and hissed at them menacingly, warning them to stay away. Hookfang, Barf and Belch were smart enough to listen, their riders might not be the sharpest, but they knew not to provoke a dragon like a Skrill.
Helene, however, thought she might be able to get through to it, she had to at least try. She figured that it might be hungry and grabbed a fish from a barrel and cautiously walked towards the vicious dragon.
Smog tried to follow her, but she stopped him by holding out a hand, "No, stand down, Smog."
The Skrill hissed at her, baring his razor sharp teeth at her. She held up the fish, holding out her arm to the hostile dragon. His eyes softened slightly and he sniffed the air, as if trying to figure out what kind of fish it was.
"Hi, there," she spoke softly, somehow managing to hide her nervousness. "I'm sure you're very hungry. I would be too if I was trapped inside a block of ice."
The Skrill's head tilted to the side slightly, possibly out of curiosity. His memories prior to being frozen and eventually freed were blurry at best, but images of frightened humans and warriors in his mind were beginning to form. However, this human's bravery and compassion was very unusual, while he wasn't sure if she was trustworthy, she was certainly intriguing.
His stomach had been empty since long before his icy imprisonment, now it hurt so badly with starvation that it felt numb. He saw the fish in her hand, his mouth salivated at the sight of it, and it seemed she was giving it to him. Perhaps it wouldn't do any harm if he allowed her to come to him, even if all he wanted was the fish.
The others in the arena could hardly believe what they were seeing. Was it actually allowing her to approach? Was she taming the Skrill?
Just as it seemed the Skrill was about to allow her to approach, Stormfly, Meatlug, and Toothless suddenly flew in. Toothless immediately went to protect her by standing in front of her. Smog flew in to protect her as well with smoke already fuming in his mouth, this startled her and caused her to drop the fish.
Surrounded, the Skrill tried to fly away, drawing in lightning from the storm above to charge it, but the top of the arena was chained. It fell to the ground and got back on its feet, looking for another way out.
He found it and ran towards the entrance to escape. Stormfly tried to stop him by standing in his way, but he was easily able to push her away and flew off into the stormy night sky.
"I got a plan," Tuffnut told his twin.
"Okay, what is it?" Ruffnut asked.
"Blame Snotlout," he answered.
Upon the other riders arriving back into the Academy with Stoick and Gobber, Snotlout immediately pointed the finger at the twins, "Their fault."
"Hey, he stole our plan," she complained.
"I told you guys to leave it alone," Hiccup groaned.
"It jumped us, sneaky dragon," Tuffnut lied as he and Ruffnut got down from Barf and Belch.
"From inside a block of ice?" he questioned pointedly.
"Uh, very sneaky dragon," he whispered.
He rolled his eyes, "Okay." He heard his father sigh. "What is it, Dad?"
"When I was a lad, my father's father used to sit me on his knee and tell me stories," he answered. "I thought they were just tales."
He was almost too afraid to ask, "Tales about what?"
"Berserker fleets attacking behind harnessed dragons that brought down lightning from the sky and destroyed everything in their path," he explained.
"You don't think the Berserkers could actually control a Skrill?" Hiccup sounded like he was in disbelief.
"I didn't think anyone could ride a Night Fury! We just can't take that chance," he declared. "If the Berserkers find that Skrill and know some way to control it…"
Hiccup stopped him from saying anything he might regret and reassured him, "We'll find it, Dad, I promise."
"For all our sake, I hope you do," Gobber uttered.
Hiccup turned to the other riders, "Gang, we have to find that Skrill, before Dagur does."
"What are we waiting for?" Helene sarcastically remarked. "Mount up!"
She was already sitting on Toothless' back, on the back end of his saddle. She saw the dropped fish on the ground and picked it up, putting it inside of the saddlebag.
Hiccup, who was surprised by the way she spoke, stood there in place, frozen. He was just standing there and she saw that.
"Hiccup, if you don't get on this saddle in the next two seconds I'm flying Toothless without you," she practically growled.
"Whoa, what got into her?" Tuffnut asked as he and Ruffnut got back on their shared dragon.
"Who cares?" Snotlout chuckled. "I love a feisty woman."
After he finally recovered from his shocked state, Hiccup mounted his dragon and inserted his leg into the pedal. "Alright, gang, let's go find us a Skrill."
They had been flying all over the island for several hours and they haven't seen any sign of the Skrill. They did have a feeling that it was still in the perimeter of the island, Skrills are territorial and would want to explore the area for a place to settle in, which could take a long time.
"Hiccup, do you actually have a plan for what to do once we find it?" Astrid asked.
"We catch it, we tame it, we train it," he responded. "Keep it away from Dagur so he doesn't use it against us."
"Oh, yeah, that sounds easy enough," she sounded sarcastic.
"Actually, the Skrill does have some weaknesses. According to the book of dragons, it can't redirect any lightning while it's in the water," Fishlegs explained.
Hiccup tried to sound optimistic, "That's a start."
"No, a start would be having any clue where this stupid thing is," Snotlout retorted. "We've been circling the island for hours, and I'm starving."
A realization then formed in Hiccup's head, "Snotlout, you just said something unintentionally brilliant."
He scoffed proudly, "Of course, I did. Wait, what was it again?"
"When you wake up in the morning, what's the first thing you want to do?" he asked.
"Well, usually I have to-" he started before Helene cut him off.
"No, after that," she rolled her eyes.
He smacked himself in the face in realization, "Oh! Eat."
"Exactly. Fishlegs, what is the Skrill's food of choice?" he asked him.
"According to what Bork wrote down in his papers, the Skrill has a taste for sheep," he explained. "Silent Sven has the largest sheep farm on Berk."
"Silent Sven's farm it is," he proclaimed.
They circled around and landed on the ground in front of Silent Sven's farm, which they discovered was scorched in several areas. They got off their dragons and questioned him about the Skrill, because he couldn't speak, he had to use his hands and a spear he had in hand.
He pointed his spear at one of his sheep, then at the sky. Hiccup interpreted what he was trying to say, "The Skrill came down and took one of your sheep."
He then pointed at the sky and tapped on his own head, which Astrid interpreted, "And then you fought off the Skrill, with your head?" He nodded.
"Hey, this guy, Silent Sven? Remind me not to rustle anymore sheep from his farm," Snotlout muttered to Fishlegs. Silent Sven heard him and pointed his spear at his throat, he chuckled nervously.
Fishlegs pushed the weapon away, "Uh, he's silent, not deaf."
"Any idea which way the Skrill went?" Helene asked. He shook his head.
Thunder and lightning could be heard in the distance, and that's when Hiccup realized something, "Wait, the Skrill can absorb and redirect lightning, it must be following that storm!" He ran to Toothless and mounted him, "Come on, gang, we have a dragon to find."
They got back on their dragons, Helene was back on Toothless with Hiccup. She held onto him and the saddle as they flew off in the direction of the storm.
Once they were in the clouds, everything suddenly turned eerie. It was hard to see anything besides themselves, the Skrill could easily ambush them in these conditions.
After flying around for a while with their nerves on guard, there was a sudden flash of lightning. It illuminated the clouds and the unmistakable outline of the Skrill appeared.
Hiccup halts Toothless and orders the other riders to the side, "Hold up, everybody." The other dragons halted and hovered in place.
"Okay, now what?" Astrid asked.
"Everybody stand back. If the Skrill sees just one dragon, maybe it won't attack," he responded. He then looked back at Helene, "Hele, maybe you should go with Astrid and Stormfly. If things get bad, I don't want you to get hurt."
She shook her head, "No, I'm going with you." She looked at her dragon, "Stay close, Smog, we're going to need you to help us escape if the Skrill attacks." He squawked.
They flew ahead of the others into the clouds where they saw the silhouette of the illusive dragon. At first, they were dismayed when there was nothing to be found, but then the thunder cracked and before they knew it the Skrill was right next to them.
It growled at the presence of another dragon and humans. It knew that the dragon they were on was a Night Fury, a dragon whose species was similar to Skrills. It could care less about the Night Fury, its main focus was on the humans.
The Skrill's eyes went from the male to the female and they instantly began to soften, he knew she was a good person. It was the male he was wary of, especially since it appeared he was the one controlling the Night Fury.
"Hey, there, fella, you've been asleep a long time, huh?" Hiccup tried to reach his hand down, but he growled. "I'm guessing you're pretty cranky and hungry, too."
The Skrill growled again and flew in front of them, confronting them with its wings spread wide. It roared and a low light could be seen in the bad of its throat as it prepared to fire.
He wasn't sure if he should, though. If he strikes and it gets them, all three of them would surely die, he wasn't sure if he could bring himself to fire at the person who showed him kindness instead of anger and hostility.
Then, Astrid and Stormfly suddenly appeared and the Skrill fired at them. True to the stories, the Skrill shot multiple powerful bolts of lightning at them. With that first shot fired, it signaled the other riders to rush into action and they too were shot at.
"Follow me, I've got an idea," Hiccup called out to the other riders. "I'm gonna dive through the cloud from above and drive that Skrill down to you guys so we can all drive it into the water."
"Got it," Tuffnut replied, then shook his head. "No, I don't, sorry. Could you go back to the part about how you're in the cloud, or is the cloud in you? It's all… it's sort of nebulous for me, like a cloud!"
He slapped himself in the face, "Just do what everyone else does."
"And how exactly are we going to find the Skrill in that cloud?" Astrid questioned.
"Toothless doesn't need to see to find something, remember?" he replied.
"Does that work in clouds?" she asked again.
"Now's a good time to find out," Helene answered, almost in a way that sounded like she was joking.
"Now isn't the time for jokes, Hele," he remarked in a slightly deadpanned manner.
They flew off into the cloud and Toothless howled into it. By sheer luck, they got a hit, it was the Skrill; the gods must be in a good mood.
'Gefion must be feeling generous today,' she thought.
"Toothless, now!" Hiccup commanded.
He obeyed his rider by firing a plasma blast at the Skrill, it made contact with it and it roared at them. It was preparing itself to fire at them, but they flew downward and it followed. Eventually, they were able to lead it out of the clouds where they were joined by the other riders.
Astrid had Stormfly fire at it, causing it to continue down towards the water in order to dodge it. "Yes! It's working!"
"Time to give this dragon a bath," Tuffnut declared.
"I'll bet he hates it as much as we do," Ruffnut remarked.
Barf sprayed gas around where the Skrill was, and Belch was about to ignite it but something flew right past them, startling them. The projectile was a flaming arrow, coming from somewhere below.
Afterwards, a boulder was hurled in Astrid's direction, but she and Stormfly were able to dodge it. She shouted, "We're under attack!"
More arrows were shot at them, followed by an occasional boulder. The Skrill used this to his advantage and started to fire at the riders again.
It started to follow Snotlout and Hookfang while shooting lightning bolts at them. One of those lightning bolts struck Snotlout in the head, causing him to seize and babble incoherently.
While Hiccup contemplated what to do next, Helene looked down and saw who was attacking them from below. She tapped on his shoulder and pointed down, "Look!"
He looked and saw an entire fleet of ships below them, not just any ships either, they were Berserker ships. And on one of those ships was none other than Dagur.
"Surprise, surprise, Hiccup!" He laughed maniacally for several seconds before stopping. "Now, get your dainty little hands off my Skrill."
The Berserkers prepared their artillery, ready to go to battle. They fired their catapults and shot their crossbows up at them, forcing the riders to retreat into the clouds. There, they would regroup and come up with another plan to get the Skrill.
Once they were all back together, they searched for a place to land for a couple of minutes. Eventually, they found a sea stack and landed on it.
Now that there wasn't anything firing at them, Hiccup just couldn't help but to stare at the smoke coming from Snotlout's head, which greatly worried him. Smog, however, thought it was hilarious and silently snickered to himself.
"Hey, uh, Snotlout, are you okay?" Hiccup asked.
Tuffnut smiled eagerly, "He's better than okay, did you see that lightning bolt to the head?" Snotlout tried to retort, but he ended up blathering incoherently.
"Tuffnut's right, better than okay," Astrid laughed. Snotlout blathered again. "And making more sense than usual."
"Okay, he's out of it," Hiccup assessed. "The rest of us will-" Snotlout interrupted him. "Snotlout, we have no idea what you're saying."
"Sure we do," Tuffnut started. "He said, 'I'm perfectly fine.'." Snotlout repeated what he said to Hiccup. "See? Said it again. I told 'em." Everyone looked at him in utter disbelief. "What? I speak Post-Lightning Snotlout."
Hiccup hit himself in the face in frustration and disbelief, "How many times has this kid been struck by lightning?"
"Often enough," he answered with a slight shrug. Snotlout blathered some type of an explanation. "Twel- oh, really? Twelve times." He then made some type of angered declaration. "He said 'Enough talk, Dagur's all mine.'," Snotlout smirked, but then Tuffnut added, "and Tuffnut's the toughest of us all." He babbled again, most likely a protest or threat. "He implied the last part."
He groaned, "Well, you heard the man, Astrid. Take Snotlout and Fishlegs and try to keep the Berserker ships occupied. The rest of us will go after the Skrill. If Dagur gets his hands on it first, we won't stand a chance."
"Don't have to remind us, Hiccup," Helene uttered, "we know." She cleared her throat, "Well… I guess it's time to go."
Astrid frowned and voiced her thoughts, "Hele, I think you should come with me and Stormfly."
"Astrid-" she tried to protest, but she stopped her.
"The lightning is attracted to metal and Hiccup and Toothless have more of it than the rest of us," she pointed out.
"Astrid, I-" she tried again, but she was cut off again.
"Helene, you're my best friend and I don't want to lose you," she professed.
She could have started to shed tears when she said that, "Astrid, you're my best friend too and believe me, I wouldn't want you to be out there earlier, but we have to if we're going to protect Berk."
"She'll be safe with me and Toothless, Astrid," Hiccup declared.
She nodded and smiled softly and solemnly, "Be safe." She then turned her attention to her paired teammates, "Snotlout, Fishlegs, let's go."
They flew off and Helene frowned as she watched them fly away. She looked at her dragon, "Smog, go follow them. They're going to need you if they need help escaping the ships." He chirped in protest, there was no way he was going anywhere without her. She placed her hand on the side of his head, "Go, I'll be alright."
Reluctantly, he complied with her wishes and left to catch up with the other team. Before leaving, he nudged her tenderly and gave her cheek a small lick, it was his way of wishing her and them luck and safety.
After that, they got off the sea stack as well and began to fly away. Instead of flying towards the Berserker ships, they were headed into the thunderstorm again.
Once they were in the area where they last saw the Skrill, Hiccup divulged his plan, "Okay, I think I have a way to get the Skrill into the water, but it's super risky."
"You, my friend, are speaking our language," Tuffnut smirked.
"Basically you're gonna fly blind through the cloud and have Barf let out as much gas as possible," he told them. "Don't let Belch ignite it until you get to the other side."
"Feel my heart, because it comes forth and is bursting out of my chest!" he proclaimed.
"Hopefully the blast will drive the Skrill out of the cloud toward Toothless and I, where we can knock it down with a plasma blast," he uttered, mostly to himself.
"That's a lot of gas. Do you have any idea how a blast that will be?" he asked.
"No," Helene replied simply.
Tuffnut grinned from ear to ear, "Me neither! How awesome is this?"
They flew away into the cloud while Hiccup and Helene waited. It wasn't long before they saw the lights from the explosion they created and it was able to flush the Skrill out.
They chased him, he tried to lose them by flying up into the clouds again and they followed him. Toothless shot a plasma blast at him, but he fired his electricity, causing the two attacks to cancel out each other. Toothless fired multiple blasts and the Skrill blocked each one with his own firepower.
Tired of these attacks, the Skrill decided to go on the offensive and chased them through the clouds. He was tempted to fire more lightning at them, but he was hesitant, he didn't want to hurt her.
Hiccup directed Toothless to fly upwards, "Hold on, Helene!"
She wrapped an arm tightly around his waist while the other hand clung to the saddle with a vice-grip. "Trust me, I'm not even thinking of letting go!"
The Skrill neared them, it was getting closer and closer, it looked like it was going to get them, but then it was stopped when a fireball hit it. It was Ruffnut and Tuffnut, and not a moment too soon.
"Remember us?" Tuffnut remarked. "Gas me, Ruff!"
"With pleasure!" she replied. Barf tried to release gas, but there was none left. "Uh-oh."
The Skrill decided to switch targets and started chasing the twins. Hiccup, Helene, and Toothless followed at top speed, they had to catch up to them before the twins and dragon were fried.
It watched as they held up metal objects and the Skrill took that as an opportunity to fire its electricity at them. Hiccup, Helene, and Toothless got in between the lightning and the twins at the last possible second and Toothless fired a plasma blast. These attacks were much closer than the ones before and as a result they caused a massive explosion of electricity and plasma, causing all of them to be thrown in all directions.
A jolt of electricity flowed into Helene's body, stunning her and causing her to let go of Hiccup and Toothless. They quickly recovered from the explosion, possibly due to a sudden rush of adrenaline flowing through both of them, and immediately flew down after her, just as she disappeared in the clouds. The Skrill wanted to fly down and try to save her, but it seemed that he took most of the explosion because he was completely paralyzed, he could hardly do anything as he plummeted downward, towards the ocean.
When they made it out of the clouds and she was nowhere in sight, Hiccup thought she could have fallen into the water, where she wouldn't be able to survive while stunned, however, they discovered that it was much worse. She wasn't in the water, but her limp yet still living body was unconscious in the arms of Dagur the Deranged.
Hiccup was completely shocked by what he was seeing, how did Dagur know where they would be while they were fighting the Skrill? Toothless, however, was less surprised and more angry, she was his friend too and no one captures his friends!
At that point, Toothless was the one in control and flew down to try to get her back while his rider shouted and tried to regain control. He had no other choice but to brake when he held his sword to her head while he had her in a chokehold.
"Don't even think about it!" Dagur yelled.
Neither one knew what to do, if they tried to get closer he would surely kill her, but they couldn't just leave her either. They felt literally and figuratively stuck.
"Hiccup!" Astrid called out to them as she and the other riders and Smog flew towards him and Toothless.
For once, he was less concerned with Astrid and more so with Smog. He practically shuddered at the possibilities of what the Smothering Smokebreath could do.
His eyes went wide when he saw Dagur's sword press against her head with a sneer on his face. "Astrid, no!" he shouted, waving his hand frantically. "Fall back! Fall back!"
She was confused by why he didn't want them to come to him and Toothless, but complied nonetheless. "Fall back, riders."
They turned in the other direction and flew away to wait for them. Once he saw they were gone, he looked back at Dagur, who withdrew his sword and even loosened his hold on her neck slightly.
"Let her go, Dagur!" he cried.
"And why would I do that?" he smirked.
"What do you want?!" he shrieked.
"Something that I can only get with her as my captive," he answered, somewhat calmly.
Toothless growled and opened his mouth, preparing to fire a plasma blast. The Berserkers on Dagur's ship and the others that flanked pointed their arrows at them, he closed his mouth.
Finally, Hiccup and Toothless flew upwards and away from the armada, and Helene. There was nothing they could do for her, not in that situation, death would have most likely been the outcome, and more than one.
Eventually, they found the other riders and reunited with them. Both had long faces full of sadness and anger, they felt like failures.
"What happened? Where's the Skrill?" Astrid asked.
"And where are the twins?" Fishlegs added.
Smog eyed the empty space behind Hiccup and his heart sank, he started squawking and squealing uncontrollably. Astrid didn't know what was wrong with him until she saw the empty space on the saddle as well.
Her eyes were wide with fear as she questioned, "Hiccup… where's Helene?"
He looked away from his friends and looked down, he sniffed as his throat ached with sadness and as tears threatened to stream down his face. "I'm sorry," he choked, "the Berserkers got her!"
She could have burst out crying and fallen off of Stormfly when she heard that. But she wasn't nearly as distraught as Smog, he was unable to fly straight and his tears were already raining from his eyes. She couldn't be gone, she couldn't be gone, she couldn't be gone! He took in the deepest breath he possibly could have and roared at the top of his lungs in despair.
0-Y-0~X~*~X~0-Y-0
(A/N: Oh, God, this was a long chapter! The longest chapter for this story so far. It took a while longer than usual, but at least it's finally done.
But anyway, besides the length of the chapter, I really felt like crying when Helene got captured. Like, I could actually feel tears in the corners of my eyes. If anyone got that reaction, I don't blame you, it was certainly emotional.
We're getting closer and closer to the (*spoiler*) final chapter with Smog, which means the poll is getting taken down soon. If you don't vote, then there is the possibility that the results will yield a dragon not many people would be happy with. That's not my fault if that happens, I've given so many reminders and opportunities and I even made some suggestions on what you could do if you want a different dragon than the ones in the poll. Not much time, so hurry up.)