Chapter 3: The Hidden World

Having realized that there was only one thing that could possibly help her find her father and having acquired a hidden map to a certain underground world, Zephyr loads up an unmarked boat with a few supplies to last her the trip.

At the docks, Fishnut, Choplout and Peston were all helping Zephyr pack up the boat while Fishlegs, Snotlout and the twins were watching when Fishlegs says, "So, remind me of this plan of yours."

Zephyr replies after putting the map down. "Simple. Find The Hidden World, get him to help us find Dad, be home by dinner."

Fishlegs nods before asking, "Are you sure about this?"

Zephyr nods back. "Only my Dad would know the way to stop Doomvist and the Seekers once and for all, and this is our shot at finding him."

Peston then looks to the small boat and points out, "Uh, Zephyr, that boat is awfully small. How many of us are you planning on taking with us?"

Zephyr sighs. "Well…that's just it. I'm going on my own."

This gets gasps and looks of shock from everyone else as Fishnut asks, "Wait, we're supposed to wait here while you go look for dragons?"

Choplout adds, "Yeah, what's the deal, Zeph? Don't you need someone big and strong to protect you during this daring adventure?" he says before flexing his bicep.

Zephyr rolls her eyes before replying, "The only people on Berk who have ever been to The Hidden World are me, my Dad, my Mom, and…Nuffink. That is, when he was still around. I think it's best we keep it that way."

Peston drops his noodle arms. "But…but I was going to make recordings of the world for my biography!"

Zephyr sighs. "That's exactly why you can't go. New Berk was built as a means to protect The Hidden World and all of the dragons that inhabit it, and if we start to make charts and records of where it is, then that compromises that whole idea!" She could see the disappointed faces in everyone's eyes as she gets on the boat and says, "Fishlegs, keep watch of things around here while I'm gone."

Fishlegs asks, "Me? Why me?"

Snotlout adds, "Yeah, why Fishface?"

Zephyr replies, "As my Dad's right hand man, you're the best option I have."

Fsihlegs nods before replying, "I see…I will do my best."

Zephyr nods. "Hopefully I'll see you guys soon." With that, she unties the boat from the dock and begins rowing it in the desired direction.

In the near distance, however, Doomvist and a ship of Seekers were watching her leave through powerful binoculars before he says, "I knew it. Sooner or later, you were going to lead me right to them." He says to his black clothed men. "Follow that ship but keep a distance. It's time to hunt ourselves a dragon."

On a normal sized ship, it would take about 2 hours to get to The Hidden World from New Berk, but given that Zephyr was in a small row boat, it was going to take much longer.

As she was rowing along, at the two and a half hour mark, Zephyr kept looking down at her map to make sure she was going in the right direction when a strike of hunger hits her, so she reaches to the compartment in the floor or the boat where she thought she had kept some snacks for the ride when she spots a skinny boy. "PESTON!" She yells. "What the heck?"

Peston replies as he gets up and slips his glasses back on, "Look, you have every reason to be mad at me, but I just had to come with you to see if this 'home of the dragons' really exists. Come on, did you really expect to come out here alone?"

Zephyr thinks about it and seeing as she doesn't have time to go all the way back to New Berk, she sighs and replies, "You at least have some snacks?"

Peston smiles and nods. "Yep, I brought some spicy yak jerky for the road."

Zephyr's eyes widen. "Hey, my favorite! Thanks!" She says as she eats the dried yak meat.

Seeing Zephyr much away made Peston smile wide as he says, "So…uh…do you…I mean…"

Zephyr replies having swallowed her current bit of jerky. "W...what?"

Peston clears his throat before saying, "Uh…how…how do we know we're there?"

Zephyr nods before replying, "Well, we won't know it at first but we will first see a line of fog from some giant waterfalls that start at sea level and go down and, well, basically it will seem like we've reached the edge of the world."

Peston scoffs as he fixes his glasses. "Um, I find that highly unlikely considering the world is round, not flat."

Zephyr shakes her head to that. "I know it sounds weird, but trust me. You pretty much have to see it to believe it. I'm telling you, once you see it you'll see why it's the-"

"End of the world." Peston says.

Zephyr nods. "Yeah, that's what I was about to tell you."

Peston turns her around and says, "No, look!"

Straight ahead was a massive set of waterfalls that could probably swallow up New Berk, course from Zephyr and Peston's point of view it simply looked like the whole world was falling over the edge.

Peston blinks to the amazing sight. "Holy…Thor…it is real."

Zephyr nods. "Told you."

Peston replies, "Uh…you never told me how we're going to get…him to come out here."

Zephyr nods before yelling out in a draconic voice. "Groooooaaaaahhhhhhhh!" she then explains, "My Dad taught me a bit about dragon calls."

Peston nods. "Uh huh. Surely you don't expect that to wor-" However, just then, a roar that had a much more similar sound to that that Zephyr made, only it seemed to come from inside the waterfalls.

And, in a mere moment, leaping out of the waterfall, came a jet black dragon with massive wings, a long tail, and green eyes that circled Zephyr and Peston's boat. Zephyr smiles wide before saying, "Th-there he is! That's Toothless!"

Peston's jaw hits the floor of the boat. "That's a dragon?! It's…even more magnificent than I thought!...wait, how do you know that thing isn't going to, you know, EAT US?"

Before Zephyr could even respond, Toothless drops down onto the bow of the boat, taking up half the room as Zephyr and Peston step back to the stern. Zephyr could see a look in Toothless's eyes that easily told her he knew she did not belong there. Peston comments, "My point about it not eating us is still in the air."

Zephyr takes a deep breath before taking a step forward and saying, "Hello…Toothless…you might not remember me, but you and my Dad were the best of friends for years." She holds her hand up and says, "M…my name is Zephyr, Zephyr Haddock."

Toothless looks up and down Zephyr and could see a tinge of familiarity, ignited as soon as he leans in and sniffs Zehpyr, getting the all too familiar smell that he had known to love for 6 years, before his pupils widen and he leans in, touching Zehpyr's and with his snout.

Zehpyr smiles wide as Peston stands there gobsmacked. "Oh…my…Thor." Peston says.

Zephyr pats Toothless on the cheek. "It's good to see you too. Listen, I need your help, my Dad is in trouble and-" She was interrupted by Toothless looking up and past her before growling.

Zephyr looks behind her and gasps as she sees the black tinted ship of the Seekers approach. Peston looks to Zephyr and asks, "You didn't think to make sure we weren't being FOLLOWED?"

Zephyr looks to Toothless and says, "Go! Now!" Toothless nods before diving back into The Hidden World.

Once they got closer, Doomvist lets out an evil laugh before saying, "Well well, look where the cat dragged us to."

Zephyr stands on the edge of the boat's stern. "You need to leave, NOW!"

Doomvist shakes his head. "I'm afraid I cannot do that. You see, I am here for a particularly important purpose, one that you couldn't even begin to understand. Now, I suggest you stand aside and let the Seekers collect what they seek."

Zephyr could see that she couldn't put up much of a fight given her small boat, but that's when she heard 5 roars that were much similar to the roar she heard earlier, and in an instant came out Toothless along with 4 other dragons of similar size and shape, only with different color schemes.

One was white and looked as old as Toothless, one was also white but looked younger and had green eyes, one black with a white lower jaw and blue eyes, and one with a black head and back and white stomach with green eyes.

Zephyr smiles wide as she sees the younger dragons, especially since they were the size of a lamb the last time she saw them. "No WAY! Luna, Pouncer, Dart, Ruffrunner! Y-you're all here!"

Dart, the blue eyed female Night Light, looked down to Zephyr and gave her a quick happy grunt before gliding down to the boat and motioning to her back and asking if she wanted to join in on the fun.

Zephyr got on to the idea quickly, so she climbs onto Dart's back with Peston asking, "Wait, you're RIDING that thing?"

Zephyr replies, "Didn't I tell you this is exactly what my Dad did long before I was born? Let's go, Dart." With that, Dart opens up her wings and joins her family as they begin attacking the ship. From the deck of the ship, a series of cannon balls and arrows began coming out.

The Furies, both Night, Light and hybrid, went to quick work in firing purple Plasma blasts at the ship. A cannon ball just almost hits Toothless before being blasted into bits by Pouncer's blast, making Toothless realize he's getting a bit old for this.

Ruffrunner and Luna blast into the air and dive into it, cloaking themselves and making themselves invisible as they swiftly take out any cannons along the side of the ship. Zephyr pats Dart on the neck and she fires four blasts at the same time, knocking out incoming arrows. Zephyr comments, "Ok, you need to show me how you did that." Dart grunts in response.

Toothless gets up to the sail with the symbol of a dagger going into a Slitherwing's neck and was just about to blast it to bits when he hears a dark voice saying, "I wouldn't do that." Toothless pauses mid-charge as he looks down and spots something horrible.

He saw Luna lying on her side on the deck of the ship with a few arrows lodged into her neck. Doomvist then pulls out his fire sword and ignites it, pointing it right to Luna's head. "If you want to see her alive, then come to Collection Island along with Haddock. You have 3 days to do so."

Zephyr asks, "And if we refuse?"

Doomvist replies, "I hope you do, and I also hope you do anything to this ship, Night Fury." Toothless could see that, at that moment, there wasn't much chance of him doing damage to the ship without costing the life of his mate, so he calls to his kids and has them fly back a bit.

Doomvist then nods to his men and they begin to turn the ship around as they load Luna into a crate lined with some kind of green metal. Before leaving, Doomvist nods to one of his men and they fire a ballista, sending an arrow towards Peston that he just barely avoids, but it still caused him to fall into the water.

"PESTON!" Zephyr yells as Dart goes in.

Peston yells, "Zephyr! I-I can't swim!"

Before leaving, Doomvist reminds her, "3 days, that's it."

Zephyr groans as Peston yells out, "ZEPHYR!" She looks down to him. "If I don't make it, I want you to know that I-" but he lost his arm strength in that moment and began to sink. Zephyr growls under her breath before jumping off of Dart and into the water.

She swims down as fast as she can before reaching Peston and try as she might, despite how skinny Peston looked, it was still quite difficult to get him out of the water and, as such, she found herself losing her own strength quickly.

When she was just inches below the surface of the water, that's when her arms and legs gave in and she too was about to sink, and she was also losing her breath which only added to the fear.

Thinking this might be it, her vision began to turn black as her conscious was leaving her, but that's when she felt something tug at her, something from above the water, but before she could react to it in any way, her mind went completely black and she passed out.