Eye of the Beholder Part 1
The night was always cold and damp on Outcast Island, which made it even more miserable for all of the prisoners who were in the dungeons. Majority of them were Outcasts that joined up with Dagur when he took over the island three years ago.
Speaking of which...
An Outcast guard came by and started tossing scraps into the prison cells. "Meal time maggots!"
He walked into the far end of the cell and tossed something in there. One of the guards noticed that it wasn't the usual scraps they were used to. "But that's not bread!" The prisoner yelled in protest. "Why does he always get special treatment? Oh, Mr. Big Shot! Mr. Berserker Chief!"
The prisoner in question was really the chief of the Berserker tribe, Dagur the Deranged. He had changed during his three years of imprisonment. His hair was now shaggier and he started growing a rugged beard.
Dagur got up and walked towards the bars of his cell. "Oh, hey, you want some?" Dagur said generously. "Come here, I'll give you some."
Dagur held his hand that had the bundle of food in it. The prisoner was a it skeptical at first, but then again, he was feeling a bit hungry so he wasn't going to pass up an opportunity on free food. He reached out to grab it, but Dugur grabbed his arm and began to slam his head into the bars.
"I've been meaning to tell you this for the last three years!" Dagur growled out. "Your voice is really annoying!" He slammed the prisoner's face hard against the bars and knocked him out. "Gosh, that felt good."
Dagur unwrapped the bundle where the was, but instead was a key. He chuckled insanely and unlocked his cell door. He sneakily approached the nearest guard and took him down. He rounded a corner and spotted two other guards that were talking.
"A woolly igloo?" One of them said laughing.
"Where did you hear that?" The other guard asked.
Dagur came up behind them and slammed their heads together. He was about to approach the exit, but a guard noticed his escape.
"He's escaping! Dagur's got out!" The guard yelled out.
Dagur groaned in annoyance and charged at the guard and hit him with a bludgeon. However, the alarm had already been rung and more Outcasts came by to try and stop him.
Instead of feeling helpless, Dagur looked crazily excited. "Oh, goodie. A challenge!" Dagur said as held two bludgeons.
He then charged at his pursuers and knocked out two of them with ease. He tripped the next two with his bludgeon and kicked the third one in the face. The prisoners cheered him on all the way. Another guard appeared and swung his mace, but Dagur dodged it. He tried to use the mace again, but he accidentally knocked out another guard.
"Oh, that's not good." He said nervously.
Dagur used this too slam his two bludgeons across the guard's head, knocking him out. He stepped over him and walked towards the exit, where the guard who helped him was quivering.
No, no, Dagur don't!" The guard begged. "I'm the one that gave you the key."
"Which makes you a traitor." Dagur said calmly before punching him across the face. "I hate traitors."
Dagur removed the metal bar from the door and walked out. He ignored the cries of the other prisoners as he spotted a ship in the distance. He smiled evilly as he gazed upon it.
"It's a new day Hiccup. Hope you're well rested."
/
The Next Day
Over the ocean surrounding Berk Hiccup was flying on Toothless' back.
"Okay bud, let's try that new move." Hiccup said.
Toothless nodded and shot up into the air. "Yeah baby!" Hiccup exclaimed as they shot up into the sky and broke through the clouds. "That's it Toothless, push it!" They began to go higher and higher as Toothless smiled. "You've got it! Climb higher!" It wasn't long until Hiccup heard a click. "What the-"
His harness detached and he began to fall back. "Oh no, not again!" He looked up at Toothless. "Uh, hey, Toothless!"
Toothless turned around and flew up close to Hiccup and they looked at each other casually.
"Hey." Hiccup said while Toothless gave a growl. "So just plummet, or, uh...any ideas?"
Toothless shot right passed him and soon enough Hiccup landed on his back. "I seriously have to get my own pair of wings." He said as he reattached the harness. Toothless gave a low grumble crossly. "Oh, quiet you. Don't even start." Hiccup flew over Berk as the villagers waved at him, and he couldn't help but reminisce about how much has changed.
This is Berk. Yeah, it's been three whole years since the war with the Berserkers, and Berk has really changed a lot. It has also been six months since the Autobots became our allies and they have made things interesting around here.
Toothless flew over Crosshairs as he was carrying a box filled with scrap metal. He was taking it to Wheeljack and Gobber thinking they could use it for spare parts for weapons.
All of a sudden a Terrible Terror's head popped out and was carrying a piece of said scrap and. "Hey! Get out of there!" Crosshairs mildly shouted.
The Terror laughed and flew out of the box along with two more of them, each carrying a piece of metal. The smirk on each of the Terrors face proved that they were just messing with him.
"Yeah, you better run! You rats with wings!" Crosshairs called out.
"What's the matter Crosshairs?" Smokescreen asked with a smirk when he walked by. "Dragon got your tongue?"
"Yeah, yeah, keep laughing kid!" Crosshairs growled out.
Over in another part of Berk, Jazz was standing in front of a few kids teaching them some of his dance moves and Wheeljack was working with Gobber in his armory working on some different tools and weapons.
Yeah, the island sure has changed a lot over the years, but it's more than just the island or our new relations. Me and my friends have also changed over the years, taking on different kind of jobs. Snotloud works at the armory with Wheeljack and Gobber now. Gobber gave him the title of 'official weapons tester'.
Snotloud pulled out a catapult and gets on it. He launched himself into the air and laughed wholeheartedly. "It works!"
Wheeljack came by and gave thumbs up. "Nice work Snotloud!"
The twins, to absolutely no one's surprise, have decided to dedicate their lives to Loki. The God of Pranks. Lucky us.
Ruffnut and Tuffnut came by and placed a wagon full of weapons below Snotloud.
Snotloud saw this and began to panick. "Uh, Hookfang! Hookfang!" Snotloud thought he was a goner, but Hookfang came by at the last minute. "You just had to cut it close, didn't you!" He said ungratefully. Hookfang then tossed him onto the saddle. "Hookfang!"
Snotloud then glared down at the twins. "There will be repercussions for this. Repercussions!"
The twins just laughed and high fives each other as they left to plan their next prank.
Then there is Fishlegs, who really found his calling, teaching the children of Berk the history of dragons.
Fishlegs walked up to the plaza with Meatlug carrying a group of kids on her back. "And if you look closely at the walls of the Great Hall, you'll still see puncture marks where the Speed Stingers attacked. Interesting fact about these dragons-" Fishlegs stopped speaking as he turned around and sees Stoick and Ultra Magnus. "Oh! Oh, look kids! We're in luck. Here comes two of Berk's most famous heroes."
Stoic looked down proudly. "Ho ho! Heroes?" Stoick said. "I've got some chiefing to do, but I guess I could spare a moment to-"
"Hiccup and the amazing Toothless!" Fishlegs yelled.
Stoick looked up and saw Hiccup and Toothless flying overhead. The children cheered when they did a loop de loop.
"-eh, to introduce my son and his Night Fury." Stoick said to try and save his embarrassment.
"Look at it this way Stoick." Ultra Magnus said. "The responsibility of chief has a greater impact then hero."
"Aye, that maybe true Magnus, but I hope my son can prepare himself by carrying both titles someday." Stoick said as he watched Hiccup fly off.
Hiccup and Toothless flew over the ocean and smiled when they felt the breeze hit their faces. They soon spotted Astrid on Stormfly flying towards.
Astrid took on a very interesting job to say the least.
/
Earlier that day
Deep within a cave on a different island, a squad of Vehicons were drilling into the cave walls. They were mining an Energon reserve and cubing them up for transport. Walking along the cave walls was a lone Vehicon patrolling the facility.
The Vehicon momentarily stopped when he heard something. He placed his head alongside of the wall and heard a faint beeping noise. He then realized too late what it was.
Boom!
The cave wall exploded and the Vehicon was crushed underneath the rubble. All of the Vehicons came into attention at the unexpected explosion and prepared for what is to come.
All of a sudden Hound, in his vehicle mode, drove through the hole in the wall, transformed, and then took out his triple barrel machine gun. "Knock knock Decepticons!"
Hound started shooting at the Decepticons wildly and mowed them down. The Decepticons shot back and Hound took cover behind a large boulder to avoid fire. A Vehicon came up close to try and get a better shot, but Hound reached out, grabbed it by the arm and slammed him on the ground.
"Open wide!" Hound took out his knife and used it to slice off the Vehicons head.
The rest of the Vehicons continued shooting towards Hound, but due to their attention being on him they were not prepared for Astrid riding on Stormfly to fly right through the hole and started firing magnesium blast at the Decepticons.
"Good shooting you two!" Hound called out as he continued to fire upon the Cons.
Optimus Prime, Elita-One, Arcee, Ironhide, Bulkhead, and Bumblebee came rolling in and transformed. They started to return fire upon the Cons and were quickly taking them out. One Vehicon grabbed an Energon and transformed into a car vehicle mode and started driving off.
"We've got one escaping!" Astrid Allen out over the comms in her ear. "Sideswipe he's heading towards you!"
The Vehicon drove towards the exit of the cave, but was soon pursued by Sideswipe in his vehicle mode. Sideswipe transformed and pursued using his wheels on his feet.
"Clear a path!" Sideswipe raced towards the Vehicon and did a flip over him and fired the the guns on his back to weaken him. He stabbed his sword on the hood of the Vehicon and used it to slice the Vehicon in half. "Man, I'm good."
With all of the Vehicons taken care of, the Autobots started gathering all of the Energon they had mined.
"Look at all this fuel." Ironhide said as he carried a few cubes.
"This will definitely last us for quite a while." Bulkhead said as he carried more cubes.
"Too bad those Stunticons, or even Starscream wasn't around." Astrid grumbled which Stormfly growled in agreement.
Elita came up and smiled at her. "We'll get our chance next time Astrid. Starscream can't hide forever."
Arcee came and knelt down to Astrid's level. "You did good today Astrid. You got the true spirit of an Autobot."
Astrid couldn't help but smile at the compliment. Optimus even gave his own smile of approval. Astrid asked if she could accompany them on this mission and at first he was against it. But when she made a compelling argument about how she's protected by Stormfly, and how Arcee spoke up for her, he decided to give her a chance.
Needless to say, he was impressed on how she handled the situation. She worked well with the Autobots, and as a dragon rider she can provide an aerial advantage.
Maybe he should give the dragon riders the opportunity to accompany them on missions.
/
Yeah, Astrid decided to go on missions with the Autobots and needless to say she was very happy. She's a warrior through and through, so if there's conflict she'll obviously race towards it.
"Hey, there you are." Hiccup said.
"Hiccup, I've been chasing you since the armory." Astrid said.
"Well, I thought we'd try far out north today." Hiccup said.
"Uh, can we talk about something first." Astrid tried to speak.
"Yeah, sure, if you can catch me." Hiccup said before zooming off, causing Astrid to groan in annoyance.
When she finally caught up to Hiccup, she saw him looking around the area with his spy glass and held a confident look on his face.
"You know what, I'm just going to say it." Hiccup said. "I have a good feeling about today."
"You say that every time we go searching for new dragons." Astrid pointed out. Hiccup just gnomes her and continued to look. "Hiccup, while we have a second, I wanted to talk to you about-"
"Oh, look, look, look!" Hiccup interrupted tossing Astrid the spy glass. "You see it? There's definitely some movement up ahead. Long neck, large head. Behind the rock formation."
"Yeah, anyway, I wanted to tell you-" hiccup ignored her and zoomed towards the rock formation. Astrid sighed in annoyance.
Hiccup flew closer to the rock formation and had an excited look on his face. "This is it, Toothless. A new species of dragon, bud." Hiccup said excitedly.
However, when they flew around the rock formation it was actually not a new species of dragon, but actually Ruff and Tuff riding on Barf and Belch pulling a prank on Hiccup.
"Loki'd!" The twins yelled.
"Ha! You totally thought 'Barch' was a new dragon." Tuffnut laughed.
"Oh, come on! Did not!" Hiccup said in frustration. He looked down at Toothless. "Let's go, bud." They then flew off.
"Wow, who yakked in his mutton?" Tuffnut asked.
Hiccup and Toothless landed on another rock formation and looked out into the ocean. Sensing his friend's depression Toothless nudged him, which earned him a pet on the head. Soon Astrid came by and landed and got off her dragon to join him. It wasn't that hard to see that the twins prank hit him hard.
"Hiccup, those guys are muttonheads." Astrid said. "But you have to admit, we've visited every island, every sea stack, and every rock in the Archipelago. And we haven't spotted a new dragon in a long time."
"This can't be all there is." Hiccup said. "There has to be something more out there."
"What if there isn't." Astrid countered. "What if we're done. What if the search is over."
"It can't be." Hiccup said strongly.
Astrid sighed and decided to drop the bomb. "Well, it is for me." Hiccup looked at her in confusion and decided to explain. "Hiccup, Stormfly and I...we're going to become permanent members of Team Prime."
"Wait, what?" Hiccup asked in confusion.
"Optimus, Elita, and Arcee came up to me after the last mission and offered us a permanent spot on the team. We're going to help in the effort to take down the Decepticons once and for all." Astrid said in a slight excited tone.
"Oh, that's great." Hiccup said in a surprised tone. "I'm happy for you."
Astrid knew that he was anything, but happy. So, she decided to give a little advice before she left. "Look, maybe you should give some thought for what's next for you and Toothless."
Astrid got on Stormfly and flew off, leaving Hiccup to ponder what she suggested.
Later that night Hiccup was standing in the old arena turned dragon training academy and closed one of the pens. He looked at Toothless who was watching him closely.
"Guess it's just you and me from now on bud." Hiccup said gently.
"Something on your mind Hiccup?"
Hiccup looked up and saw his Autobot friend Bumblebee aproach. "Oh, hey Bee. Yeah, I guess I do have a lot on your mind."
"Still no new dragons, huh." Bumblebee said.
"Yeah." Hiccup said as he and Toothless started walking out of the arena. "But I heard your mission was a success."
"That's right. Now we have a new supply of Energon that should last us for a while." Bumblebee said.
Hiccup let out a small yawn. "Well, it is getting pretty late. I'll see you in the morning Bee."
You got it Hiccup. Goodnight." Bee waved to his friend.
Hiccup and Toothless went back home, but he still couldn't get Astrid's words out of his mind.
/
The next morning, Bucket and Mulch were out in the ocean fishing. Bucket was trying to pull a net full of fish into the fish.
"Oh, come on." Bucket grunted. "Mulch, I can't get it!"
"What's the problem Bucket?" Mulch asked.
"I'm not sure, Mulch. I can't raise the net. Something's pulling at it." Both of them looked at each other in fear. "Do you think?"
"Sea Monster!" They both yelled in fear.
Something suddenly rose out of the water and sprayed them both with water. They both screamed in fear but stopped when they saw it was the twins on Barf and Belch.
"Loki'd!" The twins laughed.
"Gah! You-" Bucket would have ranted further, but he noticed something, or rather someone, being carried by Belch. "Johaan?"
"Help me." Johaan said weakly.
"Awe man, you should have seen the look on your faces." Tuffnut said, never noticing the extra weight of Johaan.
"Full Loki'd." Both twins laughed.
"Bet you never expected a full Loki to happen, am I right Johaan?" Tuffnut said as he looked behind to see the merchant. It then dawned on him he was carrying him. "Johaan?"
The response Johaan gave was spitting out water.
/
Meanwhile, at the chief house, Stoick was having a peaceful lunch, something that he was perfectly content with ever since both the war with the dragons and the Berserker ended. He looked up and was surprised to see Hiccup entering.
"Hiccup, what are you doing home so early?" Stoick asked.
"Oh, I was just...wanted to spend some time with my dear old dad." Stoick did not look convinced by Hiccup's answer. Hiccup just leaned against the wall. "Yeah, you know, we never get to talk anymore."
Stoick did not look convinced. "All right, what is it?" He asked.
"What's what? 'What is it?' Can't a son spend some quality time with his dad?" Hiccup asked.
"Stoick deadpanned. "Not usually, at least. So, let's hear it."
Hiccup sighs and sits opposite of his dad. "All right. Did you hear that Astrid has been offered a spot on Team Prime?"
"I heard that. Good for her." Stoick said as he took a sip of his drink. "I also heard from Ultra Magnus that the mission was a success. The Autobots should have enough Energon to last them for quite a while. A good victory for them." Stoick raised his cup in a toast.
"And the other riders have got their things going on." Hiccup added.
"What are you saying, son?" Stoick asked curiously.
"I'm saying, I don't know. Maybe it's time for me-"
Hiccup was interrupted when the twins burst in carrying Johaan under each arm.
"Johaan?" Stoick said in surprise. "What happened to you?"
"Dagur!" Johaan said weakly.
"What about Dagur?" Hiccup asked in alarm.
"He's out." Johaan said. "And he's more berserk than ever. And from the way he was talking, Hiccup...you're number one on his revenge list."
Johaan passed out and everyone looked at each other in alarm.
/
Half an hour later Hiccup had gathered the other dragon riders and the Autobots joined in as well. He filled them on who Dagur was and they were quite alarmed.
"So how deadly is this Dagur?" Bulkhead asked.
"Well, you don't get a name like the 'deranged' by being nice." Snotloud said.
"Just give me two seconds with the little guy and I'll show him whose boss." Hound said.
"Let's not get ahead of ourselves." Ultra Magnus said. "First we need to find him."
"Did Johaan relay any valuable information?" Optimus asked.
Hiccup walked in front of the map of the Archipelago. "All we got from Johaan before he passed out was this: Dagur escaped from Outcast Island and commandeered his ship. He threw Johaan overboard about here." He pointed to the area in the ocean outside of Outcast Island.
"By that time, he would have a day's head start on us." Arcee said as she looked at the map.
"It'd be like finding a needle in a haystack." Jazz said.
"So, what your saying is Dagur could be anywhere by now." Snotloud stated.
"Well, technically, yes." Hiccup agreed.
"Oh great! Great, great, great." Snotloud muttered. "So that just leaves, I don't know, let me think about this, the entire ocean to search! No thank you."
"I'm with him Prime." Crosshairs said. "This Dagur sounds like a human problem. This isn't our fight."
"Nevertheless, the people of Berk have given us such hospitality that we can never repay." Optimus said strongly. "If this Dagur poses a threat to the people of Berk, then we shall do everything we can to stop him."
Johaan soon entered the arena looking much better than when he arrived. "Master Hiccup, Master Prime."
"It is good to see you on your feet again Johaan." Optimus said with a smile.
Johaan has met the Autobots three months ago and needless to say he was surprised by the mere sight of them. At first he was terrified of them, but thanks to Stoick and Hiccup talking him down he was able to get over it. Now he didn't mind the Autobots and treated them like normal people, even making a few trades with them so they can learn more about this world.
"And feeling much better Prime. Thank you for asking." Johaan said. "More importantly, I have more than a strong suspicion where our nefarious foe may be heading."
Hiccup saw that he was gesturing to the fog bank in the north. "Outside the Archipelago?" Hiccup asked.
"No. Just inside the fog bank on our outer group of islands." Johaan answered.
"We've never been out that far." Hiccup said looking troubled.
"When Dagur commandeered my precious ship, he also came into possession of a very important map. One that leads to a graveyard of ships hidden in the fog bank." Johaan explained.
"Wow! That's the first place I'd go." Snotloud said sarcastically.
"If I may be allowed to finish?" Johaan said impatiently.
"Johaan, last time we allowed you to finish we ended up in Breakneck Bog." Snotloud reminded. "So, no. No finishing."
"Enough!" Hiccup yelled in frustration. He looked at Johaan. "What so special about the graveyard and why would he go there?"
"Well, you see-"
"The short version, please." Hiccup interrupted.
Johaan looked disappointed, but continued. "It's where I store all my treasures and wares."
Everyone stared at him in surprise at how easy that was to explain.
"That may be the shortest sentence I've ever heard him speak." Sideswipe said in surprise.
"Wow, concise, to the point. Who knew he had it in him." Tuffnut said.
Johaan, however, couldn't contain himself. "Which reminds me of the first time I was labeled 'concise!' He was a young man, very ugly, actually-"
"Johaan!" Hiccup cut in.
"Yes?"
"Focus. Is there anything else?" Hiccup asked.
"As a matter of fact, there is one ship you must avoid at all cost." Johaan said firmly. "It's called...the Reaper."
Everyone stared at him and most had a creeped-out vibe.
"Yeah, that's not creepy or anything." Smokescreen said in nervousness.
"Riddled with booby traps from stern to stern. Barely made it out with my life the only time I dared venture board." Johaan finished.
Hiccup looked at Toothless. "Okay, Toothless, let's go." Hiccup then looked towards his fellow dragon riders. "Unless, of course, any of you can make time out of your busy schedule to capture a dangerous maniac."
"I think I speak for everyone when I say, we're in Hiccup." Astrid said with a determined smile on her face, along with everyone else.
Optimus looked down in thought. "A large squad of Autobots might topple the already unstable ships in this ship graveyard. A small team may be the most appropriate response."
"Well, I guess that means we're out Bulk." Hound said as he patted Bulkhead on the back.
"Fine by me." Bulkhead said, feeling relieved that he's not going to a haunted graveyard of ships.
"The team that shall accompany them shall be Arcee, Jazz, Sideswipe, and Bumblebee. You four are the lightest on your feet so all of you should be able to handle standing on one ship." Optimus said.
"You can count on us boss." Sideswipe said.
"But how are we going to get there ourselves?" Bumblebee asked in a series of beeps.
"Not a problem Bee." Wheeljack said. "While we've been here I've been fixing up my personnel ship, the old Jackhammer. I can fly you guys there."
"Alright, so we have our teams. Let's get going then." Hiccup said.
/
Later that evening, everyone began flying towards their destination. The dragon riders were on their dragons while the Autobots were flying in a small ship with Wheeljack at the controls.
Even though they are about to go up against one of their old enemies, Hiccup couldn't help but feel happy flying with his friends again.
"This is pretty great, huh bud?" Hiccup said.
Toothless growled in agreement.
"Feels like forever since we've flown in a group. Let's see how rusty they are. V Formation!" On Hiccup's order the rest of the riders formed a perfect V. "Not bad. Diamond Formation!"
Everyone went into a perfect diamond.
"How rusty does this guy think we are?" Tuffnut asked.
Turns out they are quite a bit rusty. The twins accidentally flew a little too low and caused Barf and Belch to squeeze down on Fishlegs.
"Uh, guys. A little tight on the diamond aren't we?" Fishlegs wheezed.
Hiccup chuckled in nostalgia. "Just like old times."
"5,000 pounds of flaming muscle coming through!" Snotloud yelled out as he and Hookfang, who was ignited on fire, raced passed them.
"Ever a class act." Hiccup muttered, but still kept a smile.
/
By nightfall everyone reached the graveyard of ships. The covered most of it, but everyone was able to see that it was definitely creepy. There were ships from the Outcasts, Berserkers, even Hooligan ships. There were even ships that Hiccup did not recognize.
"I knew it. I knew there was more." Hiccup said.
In the Jackhammer the Autobots couldn't help but feel a little creeped out by the vibe this place had.
"Ladies and gentlemen, I give you the graveyard of ships." Wheeljack muttered.
"I'm not liking this place at all." Bumblebee beeped nervously.
"Don't worry Bee. I got your back." Arcee reassured, which Bumblebee nodded in thanks.
"Some of the ships, I've never seen anything like them before." Astrid said in wonder.
"Okay everyone, fan out. If you see any sign of Dagur, send a signal." Hiccup ordered.
Everyone complied and all of them flew around in different directions. However, searching for Johaan's stash was not an easy task. There were multiple ships to look at and for some reason the dragons were acting a bit nervous.
Stormfly looked down at the water and chirped nervously.
"It's alright Stormfly. Nothing to worry about." Astrid assured.
Elsewhere, Fishlegs was having similar problems with Meatlug. "Don't be nervous, girl. We don't want you to..." Fishlegs didn't get to finish as Meatlug then vomited lava. "Do that. Ugh."
Snotloud flew around and was fascinated with the ships instead of looking around. "Ha! Hookfang, these guys were awful sailors." Snotloud said. He then slammed into one of the sunken ships masts and was knocked off of Hhookfang's saddle. "Uh...a little help here." Hookfang just stuck his tongue out at him and flew on. "Hookfang! Hey! I saw that look! What did we talk about?!"
Hiccup flew around the ships, but spotted one that had an eerie feeling to it. It looked menacing, had the makings of a dreadnought instead of a ship, and the deck had a few green cages.
"That's got to be the Reaper." Hiccup said.
A few hours later everyone, including the Autobots, landed on a ship that was just opposite of the Reaper.
"No sign of Dagur." Hiccup said.
"Which means we got here first." Astrid said.
"But that also means Dagur can't be too far behind." Sideswipe said.
"So then, what's the plan?" Jazz asked.
"We wait." Hiccup said.
"For how long?" Fishlegs asked in a slight fearful tone while patting Meatlug. "This place really gives Meatlug the willies."
"He's got a point. We can't wait around here forever." Astrid said.
"Leaving Johaan's treasure here isn't a good option either." Arcee said.
"She's right, Dagur would just come by and steal it." Hiccup said.
"And use the profits to build a new armada." Astrid finished.
"Not if we steal it first." Ruffnut suggested.
"That's the dumbest idea I've ever heard." Tuffnut said. "I hereby disown you!"
"Actually, you know what?" Hiccup said. "I sort of like it."
Tuffnut looked back to his sister. "Welcome back to the family."
"I get it." Wheeljack said. "We look for the treasure, and when we find it we'll use the Jackhammer to carry it back to Berk."
"Exactly, but keep your eyes open for Dagur. He could show up at any moment."
Suddenly, everyone could hear a hissing noise all around them.
"Anybody else hear that?" Sideswipe asked.
"Eh, has Dagur's voice changed?" Tuffnut asked.
Hiccup looked over the bow of the ship and spotted that the ship was surrounded by a school of giant eels. He turned towards the other dragon riders and Autobots in alarm.
"Eels! Everybody, get to your dragons before they get spooked and take off!" Hiccup ordered.
Fishlegs whimpered in fear and hid under Meatlug. "Oh, hold me Meatlug!"
Seeing all of the eels surrounding the ship, the dragons started to panic and were beginning to fly away. The only dragon that remained was Toothless, due to him not being able to fly without Hiccup.
"Stormfly!" Astrid cried in alarm.
"Easy there, girl!" Arcee called out.
"Hookfang!" Snotloud called out.
When all the dragons left Toothless growled fearfully as he saw the giant eels rising from the water. Hiccup saw this and ran right towards him. "Easy there, bud. It's only a couple of eels." Hiccup reassured a he got on Toothless' back. "Really big, screaming, mean eels."
All the Autobots aimed their weapons at the eels, but they lost their footing when a few of the eels wrapped themselves around the ship and started to drag it under water.
"The eels are pulling the ship down!" Fishlegs shouted.
All of them slipped and began to fall down towards the eel infested water. Snotloud managed to grab a stump that was used for the ships mast. "Fishlegs, grab my foot!" Snotloud yelled. Fishlegs did grab the young vikings foot, and Snotloud immediately regret it. "Oh, you ate a full breakfast. You ate everybody's breakfast!"
Ruffnut grabbed hold Fishlegs, Tuffnut grabbed hold of her, and then Astrid grabbed hold of him. The Autobots managed to grab onto the side of the ship to prevent them from falling into the water. They all set their blasters to stun and began firing into the water to scare off the eels.
"We're gonna live!" Tuffnut cheered.
As soon as he said that, Astrid lost her grip and started falling into the sea.
"Astrid!" Hiccup yelled as he flew down towards her.
"Hold your fire!" Arcee ordered the other Autobots as she didn't want to hit her friend.
"Well, most of us are gonna live." Tuffnut said.
Astrid fell into the water and saw that the remaining eels that weren't frightened off by the Autobots were converging on her. She pulled put her axe thinking that she could at least try and fight them off. Suddenly a plasma blast frightened the rest away as Hiccup and Toothless dived in after her. Hiccup grabbed her hand as they swam up to the surface. Toothless landed back on the deck of the ship when it straightened out and the riders jumped off his back.
"Thanks Hiccup." Astrid said gratefully.
Arcee knelt down to check on her. "Are you okay Astid?"
"I'm okay 'Cee." Astrid reassured.
"You think would have mentioned the eels or something!" Wheeljack exclaimed.
"Yeah, that would have been helpful to know!" Snotloud complained.
"Would you two relax, the dragons will be back." Hiccup said as he addressed the other rider and Bots. "In the meantime, we stick to the plan. We find Johaan's treasure, quietly."
"We can't fit inside these ships, so we Autobots will stick to the Jackhammer and circle around." Sideswipe said.
"We'll let you know if spot something." Wheeljack said as he and the other. Autobots made their way to the Jackhammer.
While the rest of the riders left to search for the treasure, Hiccup stared at the Reaper in the distance. Astrid saw this and walked up to him.
"Why are you staring at that ship?" Astrid asked.
"Because I'm thinking of checking it out." Hiccup answered.
"The Reaper? The ship Johaan warned us about?" Astrid asked incredulously.
"Exactly, the ship covered from stem to stern with booby traps." Hiccup said. "I'm thinking, what is on there that they don't want people to find."
Hiccup hopped onto Toothless' back and they flew towards the ship, all the while Astrid silently wishing him good luck, and for him to be careful. Once Toothless landed on the deck of the Reaper, Hiccup got off and looked around the deck with Toothless following.
"This boat is definitely not from the Archipelago." Hiccup said. He then spotted a cage on the deck and examined it. He noticed that it was made out of a strange metal and had weird writing on it. "Look at this metal." Hiccup whispered to himself. Toothless sniffed the cage and started growling. "Come on bud, it's just an empty cage."
They quickly jumped out of the way when something shot out of the cage. Turns out it was just a seagull, but Toothless still looked at Hiccup smugly.
"Okay, now it's an empty cage." Hiccup said sheepishly.
Hiccup continued to explore the deck of the ship until he spotted something. It appeared to be a hatch that would lead below deck. Toothless looked warily at the hatch and didn't feel like it was safe.
"Come on bud, don't you want to see what's down below?" Hiccup asked. Toothless just growled at the hatch. "All right, fine. Guess I'm going in alone."
Hiccup bent down to open the hatch, but the moment he touched it a trip wire was set off and a rope wrapped around hug leg. Before he knew it, the rope was pulling across the deck and tried to send him overboard. Toothless managed to fire a small plasma that burned the rope.
Hiccup got up and looked overboard. "Okay, nobody goes to this much trouble unless there's something they don't want to be found."
Hiccup opened the hatch and couldn't see anything down there. He picked up a lantern and had Toothless light it up for him. "Watch your step, bud."
Hiccup went down the ladder first, but took it slowly. A good thing he did, as soon as his metal leg touched the floor, a bear trap popped up and clamped down on it.
"One of the benefits of a metal leg, I suppose." Hiccup said as he pried the trap open to free himself.
They walked down the dark corridor with nothing but the lamp for light. They soon found themselves in a larger corridor with cages along the wall.
"Okay, let's just take this nice and..." Hiccup stopped talking as he noticed Toothless walking up to one of the cages. "Toothless?"
Hiccup walked up next to his friend and spotted, much to his horror, dragon bones in the cage. He looked around and spotted more dragon bones in pretty much all of the cages.
Toothless whimpered and Hiccup knelt down to comfort him. "I'm sorry you had to see this bud. Whoever commanded this vessel was no friend of dragons." Hiccup and Toothless soon got up. "Let's get out of here."
As soon as Hiccup took a step, he accidental stepped on a switch and activated another booby trap. Crossbows appeared on the walls and fired at Hiccup. Toothless, thankfully, used his wings to protect him from the first barrage.
"Come on, Toothless!" Hiccup exclaimed as he and toothless ran down another corridor to avoid another barrage of arrows.
As soon as they were safe, Hiccup noticed a door with golden outlines. "Commanders quarters. Stay close, bud." They cautiously approached the door. "Okay, here's the plan." Hiccup said before Toothless fired a plasma blast and destroyed the door. "I like yours better."
They entered the room and noticed that it was decorated with even more dragon bones. They spotted the commander's table and saw his skeleton holding a cylinder like object.
"What is this place?" Hiccup wondered. He then noticed Toothless was sniffing the wall on the other side of the room. "What is it, bud?"
Hiccup held up his lamp to inpesct what his dragon saw and was surprised by what he saw. It was a detailed drawing of what look liked a large tower. What even surprised him more was that surrounding the large tower appeared different figures of all shapes and sizes. Hiccup could instantly tell what these things were having spent his time with them.
"Those look like Cybertronians." Hiccup said in amazement. He then narrowed his eyes at the picture. "But are they Autobots...or Decepticons?" Toothless growled when he heard that name, considering it wasn't that long ago since the battle on Berk. "Yeah, let's just get what we came for bud and get out of here."
Hiccup walked up to the cylinder on the commander's table. "Now what is this thing? Well, whatever it is, if it's on this ship then it's no good for dragons, which means we're not leaving it for Dagur."
Hiccup carefully pried the skeleton hand off of the cylinder, much to Hiccup's disgust. He wasn't sure if there was another trap set up so he lifted it up carefully. After seeing that nothing happened, he breathed a sigh of relief.
"Well, that wasn't so-" Next thing Hiccup knew, a large axe came down and nearly chopped his hand off. "Giant axe! Run bud!"
Toothless grabbed onto Hiccup and placed him on his back. He then raced down the corridor and jumped over spikes that popped out of the ground. They managed to narrowly avoid the arrows that came at them thanks to Hiccup's shield. They managed to get to the ladder and quickly climbed up to the top deck and slammed the hatch shut.
Hiccup looked up and noticed his Autobot friends and saw that they all had their blasters drawn. "Guy's, what are you..." Hiccup noticed that it wasn't just them on the ship. He also noticed Dagur and a few other Berserkers on deck with them. He then saw that they stood by the same dragon cage on top, but inside it was his friends with the Berserkers on the outside had their crossbows aimed at them. Toothless was about to fire a plasma blast, but Hiccup stopped him. "Toothless, hold." Hiccup ordered as he hid the cylinder behind his back.
"Hiccup! Did you miss me?" Dagur said gleefully before his face twisted in anger. "Cause I sure missed you. Every day for the last three years I thought about you." Dagur turned his attention to Toothless and then the Autobots. "And you to, Mr. Nightfury. And when I heard rumors about Berk making friends with metal giants, but to see it first hand is quite a sight."
"Just say the word, and I'll get a clear shot." Jazz whispered to Arcee as he had his blaster set upon Dagur.
"Easy there, we can't risk them harming the kids." Arcee whispered back, but still had her blasters on the Berserkers.
"Sorry Hiccup." Astrid said apologetically. "He got the drop on us while we were searching."
"Uh, quiet!" Dagur roared. "Can't you see my brother and I are having a moment."
"I'm not your brother, and you and I are definitely not having a moment." Hiccup said as he glared at Dagur.
"Oh, but I was." Dagur said sadly before going back to happy. "Look at you, all grown up! And quite the ladies' man I'd wager? Hmm? Hmm?"
"Johaan was right, this guy is nuts." Wheeljack said.
"Dagur, what do you want?" Hiccup demanded.
"Duh, he wants the jewels." Snotloud said as he was wearing a wig for some reason.
"He's not getting my jewels, no way! I'll protect them at all costs!" Tuffnut said before noticing the hair Snotloud had on. "What's the hair?"
"Ha! It's royal hair, I'll have you know!" Snotloud said vainly as he brushed the hair like he was actually royalty.
"Haven't gotten rid of the Greek chorus, I see." Dagur said before facing the cage. "Anyway, yes, I'll take the jewels. His too!"
One of the Berserkers slammed the butt end of his crossbow into Ruffnut's stomache, causing her to spit out a couple of jewels put of her mouth.
"Watch it, pal!" Ruffnut warned. The Berserker laughed at her, but stopped when she spat out another jewel that got caught in his mouth and caused to choke. This intern caused her to laugh.
"Oops, thought that was the guy. Never can tell with those two." Dagur said, the Berserker choking managed to spit the jewel out as it hit Dagur, but he paid it no mind as he turned back to Hiccup. "And I'll also take whatever it is you're hiding behind your back!"
Hiccup narrowed his eyes at Dagur as Toothless growled at him. Dagur want afraid though. "Come on, be a good boy. Brothers share you know."
Hiccup, seeing that he had no other options, reluctantly gave Dagur the cylinder. "You know you're not going to get very far with that thing, right?"
"Oh boy, here go." Dagur sighed as he pulled Hiccup close to him. "Must we alway do the same dance, you and I? Not that you're not a fabulous dancer."
Hiccup growled at Dagur and the Autobots primed their weapons at him, but Hiccup stepped in front of them. "Easy everyone, not yet."
"That's right Mr. Night Fury. Today is not the day, but it is coming, and soon. And not even having metal giants on your side will help tip the balance of power brother." Dagur declared. "Now if you'll excuse me, I've got people to see, an army to build, revenge to plot. Ooh, so much to do and so little time. Isn't this exciting Hiccup? You must have been so bored over the last three years?"
"Actually, ever since we met the Autobots, things got back to pretty exciting. Lots of explosions which I like." Tuffnut said.
Dagur ignored him as he grasped Hiccups shoulders. "Alas, my time here has come to an end. Farewell for now, brother." Dagur said before walking away with the rest of the Berserkers still having their crossbows trained on them. "Until we meet again, on the field of battle."
He and the Berserkers jumped off the ship and climbed down onto their own ships. Hiccup and the Autobots rushed over and watched them sail away.
"When I get my servos on that nutcase..." Sideswipe said.
"Save it Sideswipe. Let's just focus on getting the guys out of there." Hiccup said as he and the other. Autobots rushed over to the rest of the riders.
"Forget about us, Hiccup! You're the only one with wings so go after him!" Astrid said.
"What are you waiting for?" Snotloud asked.
"Their right." Arcee said. "We'll get them out of here, you go after Dagur."
"Are you sure?" Hiccup asked.
"We're fine! Go!" Astrid ordered.
Hiccup nodded and hopped right on Toothless. He took off and chased after the Berserker ship, hoping to catch them off guard. However, one of the Berserkers spotted him coming.
"Here they come, sir, just like you said." The Berserker said to Dagur.
The deranged leader didn't seem at all deterred by this. "Still predictable aren't you, brother?" Dagur said in amusement. The Berserkers on the boat then began to load a catapult. "Fire!"
The catapult was fired, but Toothless managed to maneuver out of the way.
"You missed, brother!" Hiccup said mockingly.
"Hiccup, you should know by now, I never miss." Dagur said with a smirk.
Hiccup then realized that he was never aiming for him, but rather the boat his friends were on. "Oh no!"
"Incoming!" Wheeljack warned as he spotted the large rock heading right for them.
The Autobots tried firing at the rock, but it was coming in too fast and it eventually hit the ship. The ship then began to sink and the dragon were screaming with alarm.
"What's it going to be, Hiccup?" Dagur said while still smirking. "Catch me, save your friends? Ooh, tough one, glad I'm not in your shoe."
He and the rest of his Bersekers began laughing as Hiccup just glared at them.
/
Hey everyone, here's another update to this story, and I hope you all like it.
Now, here's just a small little announcement, I've been so busy with life and my other stories that it's going to take me awhile to update all of them. I will get to them, just things are pretty hectic with my life right now.
Anyway, we are finally in Race to the Edge and I know that this may seem close to the original, but as the story progresses, you'll see some differences from the Netflix show with this because it has Transformers in it.
Another thing I should note is that I am going to be skipping all things that are basically pointless in an episode. That's why I only showed Hiccup exploring the Reaper ship than the others exploring their own ship, as that was mostly just filler. So, any episode or scenes in an episode that has no plot development whatsoever will just get skipped.
That's all I have to say, until next time!