Eye of the Beholder Part 2
Hiccup was caught between a rock and a hard place. He wanted to go after Dagur and get back that cylinder, but he can't just abandon his friends. His friends cried out for help while the Autobots hanged on to the railing of the sinking ship.
Dagur was enjoying how this played out. "Isn't this exciting?! What will he choose ladies and gentlemen?! Will he rescue his friends or capture his mortal enemy, his brother?!" Dagur taunted.
Hiccup didn't need to think twice anymore as he steered Toothless back to the sinking ship. Dagur looked disappointed for a moment. "Hmm. Disappointing, but oh, so typical Hiccup." Feeling satisfied with the situation, Dafur and his men sailed away to safety.
When Hiccup and Toothless made it the ship, he saw his friends trying to pry the door off, but with no success. "Move away from the door!" Hiccup ordered. When he saw they were clear he patted Toothless on the head. "Plasma blast, bud!"
Toothless fired a small plasma blast at the cage handle, but to his surprise it had no effect and the cage was still closed tightly.
Fishlegs inspected the impact zone and was intrigued. "Dragon-proof bars? Ooh, fascinating."
"Whoever built this ship really knew what they were doing." Hiccup said.
"Well, they didn't account for this." Arcee said as she primed her Energon blaster. She fired a small blast at the cage door, hoping to blow it open, but her blast didn't do anything either. "What?!" She asked incredulously.
"Incredible. These bars can even withstand Energon blasters." Hiccup said with great fascination.
"Oh, you know what would be even more fascinating?" Snotloud asked as the ship shook even more and caused Fishlegs to press up against him. "Getting us out of here!"
"Toothless, now!" Hiccup ordered. Toothless fired multiple blasts at the cage door in hopes of opening it. Arcee also joined in with her blasting, but the other Autobots didn't because their blasters were too large and they didn't want to risk hurting the others. "We need more fire power. Guys, dragon calls."
All of the dragon riders mimicked the roars of their dragons,min the hope that they would get here on time. These calls served to only attract the giant eels as they began to approach the sinking boat and slither upon it.
"Why'd it have to be eels!" Snotloud complained.
"These things are starting to bug me more than Scraplets." Jazz said.
The eels began attacking, but Toothless and the Autobots blasted some away. Pretty soon the water was completely covered with eels. Hiccup tried to pry open the cage, but his attempts were futile.
"Come on!" Hiccup strained as he continues to pry. An eel came up behind him and bit down on his metal leg and began drawing him down towards the water! "Ah! Toothless! Bumblebee!"
Bumblebee saw Hiccup was in trouble and managed to reach out and grab the eel. He used his other hand to pull Hiccup out its jaws while holding it up for Toothless to fire a plasma blast at it.
"Thanks, you two." Hiccup said gratefully.
Bumblebee set him down and gave him a thumbs up. "No problem, buddy."
"We can't wait for the dragons to get back." Wheeljack said as he pulled out a device from behind him. "I'm calling in the big guns."
He pressed a few buttons on the device and soon enough the Jackhammer came hovering above them. Wheeljack pressed a few more buttons and then the blasters on the ship began rapid firing at the water infested eels, scaring most of them away. The ship lowered close to them and the hatch starting opening up, allowing Wheeljack hop in. With him at the controls, he was now able to control the guns not this ship much better and fire at the eels.
Hiccup removed his metal leg and tried using it to pry the cage open, with Snotloud helping out for the inside. The ship began to tip even further as the dragon riders began holding on to the handles of the cage.
"Hookfang, help us! I'm important!" Snotloud yelled.
"Stormfly!" Astrid called.
"Barf, Belch, get your butts over here!" Ruffnut ordered.
Hiccup continued to try and pry open the cage, but the ship was now at a vertical angle. Astrid and Ruffnut lost their grip and the combined weight with Snotloud and Fishlegs caused the cage door to open up and leave them all hanging. Fishlegs grabbed the cage door and Snotloud grabbed the bar with one hand and grabbed Ruffnut with the other. Ruffnut grabbed Astid while she grabbed a hold of Tuffnut's leg.
"Aahh, that was great." Tuffnut said with relief as he hugged Hiccup's metal leg. However, since he was closest to the water, an eel began to snap at him, but he used the metal leg to fight them off and soon Barf and Belch flew down with the rest of the dragons and blasted it away. "Oh, so now you decide show up."
Soon all the dragon riders got back onto their and the Autobots managed to get back on to Jackhammer. Tuffnut gave Hiccu back his metal leg.
"That was way too close." Fishlegs said.
"Hiccup, what are we doing?" Astrid asked.
"I say we go after Dagur and kick his stinking tail pipe." Sideswipe suggested over the comms.
"No way, the Jackhammer is too big and too loud. Dagur will instantly notice you guys coming and head for cover." Hiccup said as an idea came to him. "You guys go back to Berk, I'll go after Dagur. Whatever that cylinder-looking thing is, I know one thing for sure, it shouldn't be in his hands."
"Good luck, Hiccup." Wheeljack said as he piloted the ship away.
The dragon riders and Autobots flew back in the direction of Berk and Hiccup and Toothless flew in the direction Dagur's ship was heading.
/
Dagur inspected the cylinder while his ship sailed through a fog bank. Along with him on the ship was Savage, a former Outcast who used to serve Alvin, but now sets his loyalties to Dagur.
"Amazing. I've never seen anything quite like this." Dagur said.
"Me neither." Savage said. "What do you suppose it is?"
Dagur runes around and glared angrily at his second-in-command. "Don't ask ridiculous questions, Savage! Just know this, it's min now, all mine!" He then turned his attention back to the cylinder. "Now what is it that you do? Tell Dagur, now. That's it. Tell Daddy Dagur."
Savage stared at him, having already gotten use to his boss' insanity. He then noticed something approaching them. "Uh, Dagur?"
"Ugh, what now?!" Dagur yelled as he turned to him angrily. "Another stupid question?!"
"More of an observation." Savage said.
While Dagur's back was turned, Toothless flew up from behind and did a barrel roll, allowing Hiccup to snatch the cylinder right out of his hand.
"Thank you kindly." Hiccup said and then took off.
Dagur stared at his hands for a sedond before screaming in anger at the loss of his prize. The Berserkers bagra firing their crossbows at Hiccup and Toothless, but they were out of range. Dagur tossed one of the Berserkers overboard in anger and glared at the other one, causing him to jump overboard in fright.
Dagur turned to Savage in anger. "Aah! See what you did?! You distracted me, and now my pretty, cylindrical, mysterious object is gone!"
Dagur looked back up to the sky to address the retreating Hiccup. "Good for you, Hiccup! Good for you! But I got all the gold, you hear me! All...the...gold! Buahahahaha!" He laughed maniacally before his face went back to calm as he walked away. "You know you can never have nice things around that guy."
/
A few hours later at Berk, Hiccup showed the weird cylinder to Gobber and he tried to open it. Even with all his strength, it was not opening even an inch.
Hiccup, the dragon riders, and the rest of the Autobots watched as Gobber tried opening it.
"It was weird, Optimus." Arcee said as she gave her report to her leader. "I hit that cage multiple times and I didn't even scratch it."
"How is that even possible?" Elita asked.
"You want to know what else is weird." Hiccup said. "The room where I found this device had drawings of your kind on the walls."
"Are you sure, Hiccup." Fishlegs asked as he and everyone else were surprised by that news.
"I'm sure. Whoever owned that ship not only had knowledge to trap dragons, but they had detailed images of Cybertronians. Is it possible that your kind may have visited us before?" Hiccup asked the Autobot leader.
"During the early times of the golden age of Cybertron, many scientists have thought about using the Space Bridge to travel beyond the stars before. It seems that our worlds did interact in the past." Optimus answered.
Hiccup turned back to look at Gobber as he was still having trouble. "Have you ever seen anything like this Dragon Eye before?" Hiccup asked.
"Dragon Eye? How do you know it's called a Dragon Eye?" Tuffnut asked in confusion.
"Because I named it." Hiccup said simply.
"Sounds better than calling it a cylinder." Smokescreen said.
"Whoa, whoa, aren't we supposed to vote on stuff like that?" Snotloud asked.
"Fine, all those in favor, say 'Dragon Eye.'" Hiccup said.
"Dragon Eye." The twins said raising their hands.
"Dragon Eye." Astrid and Fishlegs said raising their own hands.
"Dragon Eye." The Autobots said while Bee said it in beeps.
Snotloud just blinked before speaking. "Just wanted to make sure we voted."
"Can you open it, Gobber?" Astrid asked.
"Ha Ha! Can I open it? I once opened a 500-year-old giant clam at the bottom of the ocean with my bare hook. Can I open it? Ha!" Gobber scoffed as he continued to try and open it. "I think it's gonna to be-"
Suddenly a clicking sound was heard from the Dragon Eye. Before anyone could say anything, a dart came out of one of the ends of it and struck Tuffnut in the chest.
Tuffnut looked down at the dart that hit him in confusion. "Ugh. What is that? That looks like a-" He then collapsed on the ground, causing his sister to laugh at that.
"Watch where you are pointing that thing next time!" Crosshairs said as he maneuvered out of the way. He didn't think anything it did could hurt him, but he wasn't going to take the chance.
"Well, that was...something, maybe." Gobber said as he continued to try and open the Dragon Eye.
"Yo man, I don't think you should be playing with that thing anymore." Jazz said nervously.
"Trust me. I'm-"
Before they knew it, gas started to leak out of the Dragon Eye at the same time Tuffnut woke up.
"It's all right, I'm okay." Tuffnut said. "I got hit with something, but now-" Tuffnut began to sniff the gas. "No, scratch that." He then collapsed back onto the ground and started twitching.
"Perhaps a more delicate method is needed to inspect this device." Optimus suggested.
Ratchet took the device and used his optics to thoroughly scan the Dragon Eye. "The rings on this mechanism seem to be able to rotate, but without a necessary way to bypass the multiple fail safes this device may have."
"Made by humans, but a work of art nonetheless." Wheeljack said.
"Well, let's head to Autobot central and use some of your stuff to bust this bad boy open." Ruffnut suggested.
"That might not be the best option." Fishlegs said.
"Indeed. Our devices are too large and this device is too delicate to risk using them on it." Optimus said.
Bulkhead knelt down as he looked at Tuffnut with concern as he continued twitching. "He doesn't look so good."
"Yeah, I'm thinking we should probably go get Gothi." Hiccup said.
/
Moments later the dragon riders were at Gothi's hut. The Autobots stayed behind as they were much too large to stand near her hut. She created a potion and forced it down Tuffnut's throat. He instantly stopped shaking the moment he drank the whole bottle.
Tuffnut may have stopped shaking, but he was now scratching his teeth. "My teeth are itching. My teeth are itchy."
Gothi wrote something in the dirt and Gobber translated. "She say: 'That's a good sign. Means it's working.'"
"Thank you, Gothi. We really appreciate this." Hiccup said gratefully.
Gothi then noticed something about the Dragon Eye as Gobber continued to fiddle around with it. She saw the keyhole on it and had a haunted look on her face.
Hiccup saw this and looked at the healer in concern. "Gothi, are you okay? What is it?"
Gothi showed him her scar on her forearm. It was the exact shape of the keyhole on the Dragon Eye. Before Hiccup could say anything, Gothi walked away.
"Her...her scar...it matches the key hole." Hiccup said in disbelief.
"Yeah, and it looked like a dragon bite mark to me." Fishlegs said.
"Your right, but she doesn't like to talk about it." Gobber said as he took a break from trying to open the Dragon Eye.
"She doesn't like to talk about anything." Fishlegs said plainly.
"Oh, that's why she writes in the dirt with a stick." Tuffnut said as he was still scratching his teeth. "I thought that was just, like, her thing."
"Yeah, like Snotloud being a woman repellent." Ruffnut said.
"Maybe we could use the stick to itch the teeth." Tuffnut inquired.
Gobber saw that Hiccup and Fishlegs were leaving. "Where are you going?"
"After her." Hiccup said. "We have to find out what kind of dragon made that scar. It could be the key to open the Dragon Eye."
"Hold on, I have ways of making her talk." Gobber said. "Well, scribble anyway."
/
On the off chance that Gothi would tell her story on how she got that scar, the Autobots wanted to be there to hear it. It was night time and the dragon riders had Gothi sit down in her chair that was set up at the beach. Gobber was preparing pot that had a steaming soup inside it.
Arcee leaned down, but as soon as her face got close to it she pulled away. "Ugh, that stuff is rancid."
"Ah, everybody's a critic." Gobber grumbled as he stirred the pot.
"What is that anyway?" Ratchet asked.
"It's the old bats weakness, isn't it?" Gobber said trying to entice Gothi with the smell. "Come on, ya know yeh can't resist Gobber's homemade yak noodle soup."
Gothi licked her lips as she was wavering to the smell of it. Not even a minute later, Gothi downed every last drop of the soup.
"Sheesh, for an old lady that doesn't talk, she guzzled that thing down in no time." Bulkhead said.
"Yeah, she drowned that like a yak in a heat wave." Fishlegs said before looking towards Hiccup. "That makes sense, right?"
Hiccup walked up to Gothi. "Now, tell me about this bite mark."
Gothi began to write on the ground as Gobber translated. "I was a turkey neck-" Gothi whacked him with her staff. "Ow! Teenager, sorry. I had a longing to climb Glacial Island to find pure glacial water for its healing properties. So I went with two vegetables." Gothi whacked him again with her staff. "Ow! Vikings, sorry I'm a bit rusty."
Gothi rolled her eyes as she continued writing with Gobber translating. "We had only been at the summit for a few hours, when we were hit by a terrible snowstorm. That's when it attacked. It was vicious, relentless, and impossible to see in the whiteout. The Snow Wraith."
"Oh, well doesn't that sound pleasant." Crosshairs groaned.
"Shhh, she's not done." Gobber said as Gothi continued to write. "It my arm and threw me into a snow bank, but then it left me alone. I was the only survivor. I'll never know why it didn't finish me off that day. I left only knowing one thing, that I never wanted to smooch that dragon again." That word confused Gobber. "Smooch? Ow!" Gothi smacked him again. "See! Never wanted to see that dragon again!"
"Ya know, yeh drawing ain't what it used to be, old woman." Gobber said. Gothi's was about to smack him again, but he quickly recoiled in fear. "But you swing is as strong as ever."
"Gothi, that tooth from the Snow Wraith is the key to unlocking the Dragon Eye. You have to help us find it." Hiccup said.
Gothi wrote something down in the sand and Gobber read it, but then looked back at her. "I can't say that to him. He's the chief's son."
"What did she say?" Elita asked.
"I'd rather not say it in front of the young ones." Gobber said. Gothi removed her previous message and started writing down a new one. "She says, no way she's going back. And besides, Berk needs her. It's true, she's the best healer we've got."
"Well, why not let Ratchet take over?" Fishlegs suggested.
"No thank you." Ratchet said as he shook his head. "Fixing up Autobots is one thing, but I'm still learning about the methods of human medicine."
"Not to worry, Gobber can cover for you Gothi." Hiccup suggested.
Gobber smiled in confidence. "Sure, I've watched Gothi work so many times, I know this place like the back of my hand." He said as he raised his hook. Realizing his mistake he brought it down and raised his actual hand.
Gothi still didn't look convinced. Hiccup was about to step forward, but Optimus beat him to it as he stepped forward and kneeled down.
"Gothi, I too was once young and wanted seek knowledge. You knew what that feeling was, to learn all that you can about what might be out there, what knowledge can be found if one were to just seek it out, and to find answers to our greatest questions." Optimus said.
Hiccup stepped forward and held up the Dragon Eye. "And this will help us do that, but only if you help us out."
Gothi looked between both the human and Autobot before smiling and slamming her staff down in agreement.
/
The next morning came and the dragon riders set off for Glacial Island. The flight took a while, but the island was finally coming into view, and it was huge.
"Look at the size of that island." Hiccup said in amazement.
"Oh, the Book of Dragons mentions the Snow Wraith, but doesn't have any information on it." Fishlegs said as he was practically bouncing on his saddle with excitement. "Can you believe this? A brand-new dragon. It's been so long I've forgotten what this feeling is." The twins stared at him and he just laughed sheepishly. "Sorry, just excited about the new dragon."
"You mean the dragon that single handedly wiped out Gothi's entire search party?" Astrid reminded.
"That would be correct. So worth the long flight." Fishlegs said.
"Speak for yourself." Snotloud said angrily as he was carrying Gothi, who was asleep and laid forward so her drool was on his back. "Your back hair isn't covered in old lady drool."
"Okay, here we are." Astrid said as they were coming up on the island.
"Oh, thank Thor." Hiccup sighed.
They all soon landed on the island where Gothi's party was attacked. Snotloud got off Hookfang and extended a hand for Gothi to take, but he pulled it out of the way, causing Gothi to fall face first into the sun.
"Oh, yak hands." Snotloud said in an unapologetic tone. "Oh, I'm so sorry, are you okay?"
Gothi didn't verbally respond, but she did use her staff to trip Snotloud up.
"You know, we should bring her along more often." Astrid said with a smirk.
Hiccup pulled out a remote-like device and pressed a button. Not long after, a Ground Bridge portal opened up and Optimus, Elita, Crosshairs, Bulkhead, and Smokescreen.
"Ground Bridge successful, Ratchet." Optimus said over the comms.
"Good. Remember Optimus, extreme cold temperatures are extremely lethal to our cores. Once your core temperature reaches the blue zone you must Ground Bridge back to base."
"Understood." Optimus said.
"Alright Gothi, so where is this Snow Wraith?" Smokescreen asked as he looked around.
Gothi looked around area and inspected every aspect of their surroundings. Everyone waited with baited breath as they wanted to know if she finds anything. She looked back at them and shrugged her shoulders.
"Well, that's just perfect." Crosshairs groaned.
"Great, just great. She's got nothing." Snotloud said angrily. "Someone else is wearing that bag of bones home. She's all knees and elbows."
"Easy Snotloud." Elita teased. "She's the town healer, so the next time you get sick she might not be so willing to help you out." That made Snotloud gulp a bit in fear as Gothi smirked at him.
Suddenly the wind began to pick up and snowflakes starting falling faster. Everyone started rubbing their arms to try and tolerate the heat.
"We better start searching now, or we'll get turned I to Botsicles." Bulkhead said.
"Could we please do something?" Snotloud asked as he started shivering. "My mouth is starting to freeze shut."
"Don't get our hopes up." Astrid said.
"Well, then we should work fast to find this Snow Wraith, because we're not leaving until we do." Hiccup said firmly.
"We shall split up so that we may cover more ground." Optimus said.
"Good idea." Hiccup agreed. "Dragon call and use your comms if you spot anything."
"And do not engage if you spot this dragon." Optimus said.
"You can count on us, sir." Smokescreen said with a salute.
"Quick Hookfang, before sees us!" Snotloud yelled, turning quickly to his dragon, and hoping to avoid being the one to carry Gothi. It was too late as Gothi was already on Hookfang's saddle and gestured for him to sit. "Hey...I was just talking about you."
"Autobot, rollout!" Optimus ordered as each Autobot transformed and drove in different directions.
The dragon riders hopped on their dragons and flew off in different directions as well. What none of them noticed was an icy blue dragon eye watching their every move.
This eye seemed to glare at the Autobots the most.
Off in the distance of the island, the Soundwave's Minicon Laswrbeak was also flying around the area. It circled the island as if it was searching for something as well, but then it spotted the Autobots and the dragon riders.
It left for the warship to deliver the news.
/
Nemesis Warship
Soundwave walked into the bridge and spotted Starscream and Knockout currently speaking to each other.
"And how goes the patients, doctor?" Starscream asked.
"Recovery is going pretty well. The Stunitcons took some nasty hits from their last bout with the Autobots, but in mere cycles they'll be good as new." Knockout informed the new leader.
"The sooner the better." Starscream said with narrowed eyes. "We may have larger access to Energon, but all that is useless without capable warriors to combat the Autobots."
"Not to mention the Autobots seem to be getting new players to even the playing field." Knockout said as he heard the reports of more Autobots arriving on Earth.
Everyone stopped speaking when they spotted Laserbeak flying in and attached itself to Soundwave's chest. His display screen then showed a picture of the Autobots and the dragon riders on Glacial Island.
Starscream narrowed his eyes at the screen. "Autobots and their pets? Where did you get this footage?" Soundwave answered by displaying an image of Glacial Island.
"Isn't that the same area where we've been reading that strange anomaly lately?" Knockout inquired.
Recently they've been monitoring Glacial Island because they've been getting a strange signal from it. They couldn't tell if it was distress beacon, and Energon signature, or anything in general. The reason is because the moment they prepare to head out and search for it, the signal just disappears like it was never there.
To insure this wasn't just faulty scanners, Starscream had Laserbeak monitor the island in case it came back.
Starscream narrowed his eyes at the image of his enemies. "If the Autobots and those flesh creatures are there, then there must be something of value." He turned towards a few Vehicons at the side. "Prepare the troops, and destroy them. Once they are out of the way, we will scour that island until we find what is hiding down there."
The Vehicons nodded and made their way to the flight deck. Starscream turned back towards Knockout and Soundwave. "With the Stunticons still out of commission, I'll need you two to lead this operation."
Knockout sighed in annoyance. "As you wish, Commander Starscream."
Knockout was grabbed by the now angry seeker and pulled in close so he could see the angry look in his eyes. "It is Lord Starscream!"
Knockout nodded his head in slight fear as he and Soundwave left to prepare for the mission.
/
Time past and so far, no one was able to have any sign of the Snow Wraith. The Autobots circled around the entire island and they couldn't find any trace of the dragon, not even a single foot print. The dragon riders weren't having that much luck searching in the air either. They soon rendezvoused back towards each other to discuss things.
"Anybody find anything?" Hiccup asked hopefully.
"Sorry Hiccup, not even a single foot print." Smokescreen said.
"If there was any the wind probably blew them away." Bulkhead said.
"All we found was some scattered yak bones." Ruffnut said.
"I didn't see anything, but I had this weird feeling that something was watching me." Fishlegs said.
"Oh, I had a weird feeling too. Like this old lady stuck on my back." Snotloud grumbled. Gothi moved her head behind Snotloud, which made Tuffnut recoil in fear.
"Ah, two heads!" Tuffnut gasped. Barf and Belch immediately snarled at him. "Oh, sorry guys, on you two it works."
Astrid hopped off Stormfly as soon as the wind began to pick up. "Hiccup, maybe we should get out of here. That looks like a huge storm."
"No, we should dig in here and wait for the Snow Wraith to show itself. Remember, it likes to attack when you can't see it."
"Great. Just great." Fishlegs muttered.
"We will stand watch while you all set up camp." Optimus informed. He then spotted Crosshairs staring intently in the distance and walked up to him. "What do you see, Crosshairs."
"I don't like this Prime. Just like Fishlegs, I get the feeling that something is watching our every move." Crosshairs said as he narrowed his eyes in the distance.
Optimus looked to where he was looking and looked back to him. "Remain vigilant, and keep a weather eye out."
"Roger." Crosshairs said as he removed his guns from his back.
Optimus walked back to the group and Elita saw the troubled look on his face. She walked up to him and placed a hand on his shoulder. "What's wrong, Optimus."
"I feel as though our hunt for the Snow Wraith has taken a turn. It may be hunting us." Optimus informed.
Elita nodded. "I'll stay close to the young ones."
After about an hour, the dragon riders finally managed to set up their tents. It didn't seem to help though, as the winds began to pick up even faster.
"Use your dragons as extra protection from the wind!" Hiccup ordered as Toothless used one of his wings to protect his rider.
All of a sudden, one of the tents was destroyed and everyone can hear a dragon roar in the distance.
"What was that?" Smokescreen questioned as he prepared his blaster.
"It's the Snow Wraith!" Fishlegs yelled as he ran and hid in his tent. "I'm gonna be okay. I'm gonna be okay. I'm gonna be okay." His pleas were not heard as his tent was the destroyed.
"Hold your ground and fire back!" Hiccup ordered.
"Fire at what?! I can't see anything in this weather!" Crosshairs said as he searched around, but the dragon was too fast.
Hiccup understood that when another tent was destroyed. "Actually, you know what, take cover!"
"Autobots, form up!" Optimus ordered as the Autobots, along with the dragons, circled around the dragon riders to protect them.
They waited with baited breath for something to happen, until something finally did. The Snow Wraith was flying up in the air until it divebombed right towards them. It tackled right into Crosshairs, causing everyone to scatter, and was using its claws to stick to its back. The force of it caused Crosshairs to fall down and that caused a bunch of snow to fall on top of Hiccup and Toothless.
The Snow Wraith was pure white with deep blue eyes. It had two legs and large wings on its sides and two prominent tusks protruding from its lower jaw. It's long tail had a bunch of spikes, but not as long as a Deadly Nadder.
"Get off of me!" Crosshairs said as he struggled to get the dragon off his back. The dragon then all of a sudden bit him right on the shoulder. "Aaahhh!"
"Hold on pal!" Smokescreen said as he came in from behind, grabbed the Snow Wraith, and yanked him off his friend. That in turned caused the dragon to try and bite his head off. "Whoa!" Smokescreen tried holding back with his hands.
Hiccup and Toothless' heads came out of the snow and saw that Smokescreen was in a jam. "Toothless, fire!"
Totthless fired a plasma blast at the Snow Wraith, which thankfully pushed it off of Smokescreen. The Snow Wraith got back up and glared in Hiccup's direction, but for some reason, even though it had him in his sights, it didn't go after him.
"Set your blasters to stun!" Optimus orders as the Autobots tried to hit the Snow Wraith.
The Stormfly and Hookfang, with their riders on top of them, started flirting towards the Snow Wraith as well. The Snow Wraith knew it was outnumbered so it tried to fly away.
The dragon and Autobot shots nearly hit the snow bank that Toothless and Hiccup were buried in. "Cease fire! Cease fire!"
The Snow Wraith flew past Stormfly, causing her to nearly fall over and it sent Astrid falling over a cliff. Luckily, she managed to grab on to the side of the cliff and stop her from falling.
"Stormfly!" Astrid yelled. Stormfly immediately slammed her tail at the side of the cliff and brought out her spikes. Astrid grabbed onto them and her dragon was able to pull her up.
Toothless and Hiccup managed to free themselves from the snow bank and spotted the Snow Wraith. "Alright, I've had just about enough of this dragon, bud. Do your thing." Toothless used his echolocation to to spot the Snow Wraith in the blizzard. "Toothless, now! Multiple blasts!" Hiccup ordered.
Toothless began firing a barrage of multiple plasma blasts, which the Snow Wraith barely managed to dodge. It clearly had enough as it began to fly away into the snowstorm.
"I think it's gone." Hiccup said as he and. He and Toothless walked towards Crosshairs who was being looked at by Elita. "Are you okay, Crosshairs?"
"I'll live." Crosshairs said.
"We should contact Ratchet. Tell him to open a Ground Bridge so we can send you through." Elita suggested.
"No worries, I'm all good and ready for round two with that lizard." Crosshairs grumbled as he got back up.
"I have a question, Hiccup." Snotloud said as he stepped forward. "What exactly is your plan to get a Snow Wraith tooth? Take it out of one our cold dead bodies?"
"If all goes well, it'll be Ruffnut's dead body." Tuffnut joked. "And the Wraith tooth."
Hiccup saw Gothi approach. "Hold on, quiet. Gothi wants to tell us something." Hiccup said.
Gothi began to write something in the snow and Fishlegs walked up to translate. "She says, we should have left when we had the chance."
Everyone became nervous when they heard the Snow Wraith roar in the distance.
Hiccup looked at Astrid in worry. "Astrid, are you okay?"
"Yep, barely." Astrid replied.
"Anyone else notice something strange about how that dragon acted?" Bulkhead asked.
"I don't know, I was too busy trying not to die." Snotloud said.
"Bulkheads right. That dragon specifically targeted the Autobots." Fishlegs said as he wondered about the Snow Wraiths odd behavior.
"Yeah, like it had a personal grudge against your kind." Tuffnut said.
"It does seem strange, but that makes this mission even more dangerous if it is not afraid to engage in battle." Optimus said.
"If that's the case Hiccup, maybe we should head back. We're sitting ducks in this snowstorm." Fishlegs said.
Something Fishlegs said rang through Hiccup's mind. "Wait, what did you just say?"
"He said we're sitting ducks, and for once I agree with him." Snotloud said.
Hiccup looked at the snow bank he and Toothless were trapped on and began muttering to himself. "Sitting ducks. Yes, yes! That's exactly what we need to be!" Hiccup said excitedly.
"Excuse me?" Astid said in confusion.
"What are you thinking, Hiccup?" Elita asked.
"What if we could make the Snow Wraith think it sees us when we are not here?" Hiccup suggested.
"You can make yourself invisible?" Tuffnut gasped in amazement as he turned to Ruffnut. "Why does he do all the cool stuff. I just have to sit here with you as a sister."
"Will you two be quiet for ten seconds?" Snotloud yelled impatiently.
"Tuff's not that far off." Hiccup said. "Look, when we blasted the Snow Wraith to save Smokescreen it looked at us, but it still seemed to not see us n the snowbank, and Gothi said it left her alone when she was also buried in a snowbank."
"In an environment like this, it seems logical that this dragon hunts its prey using body heat." Optimus said.
"Exactly, and we use that to confuse the Snow Wraith. When the time is right, we'll net it and get that tooth." Hiccup said firmly.
"Sounds crazy enough to work." Crosshairs said.
"And you're sure it will work?" Astrid asked.
"Uhh..." Hiccup said with uncertainty.
"Of course not." Astrid sighed.
"I hate you. You know that?" Snotloud said.
"Yes, I am aware of that." Hiccup plainly. "All right gang, let's get to work."
"There's a crevice on the side of the mountain that we and the dragons can use for cover, but what about the Autobots?" Fishlegs said.
"Yeah, I don't think I can fit in there." Bulkhead said.
"What if we bury ourselves in the snow?" Elita suggested. "We'll even transform to vehicle mode in order to make it easy."
"Such a method could increase the risk to damaging our core temperatures, but this may be the best chance we have." Optimus said.
A few hours later, the dragon riders and their dragons hid in the ice cave to observe their trap while the Autobots were buried under the snow in vehicle mode. They set up a bunch of wooden dummies of themselves and were going to burn them to attract the Snow Wraith.
"Pretty good." Hiccup said. "Now, if I'm right when we light those on fire, the Snow Wraith will think they're us and attack. Then we'll have the drop on it."
"Wait, wait, wait!" Snotloud yelled. "Look at how realistically gorgeous my statue is. I can't in good conscience send that into flames."
The wind picked up again and the dummies head was blown away, to Snotloud's horror.
"I'll work through the pain and do it for you." Astrid said.
"Wow, you'd do that for me Astrid?" Snotloud said smiling, which caused her to roll her eyes at him.
"Alright Toothless, light 'em up." Hiccup said. Toothless fired a plasma blast at the dummies which set them all on fire.
Snotloud took off his helmet and looked like he was about to cry. "Somewhere in the world, a silent tear was just cried." Snotloud said.
A few minutes passed, but so far nothing was happening.
Fishlegs looked towards Hiccup. "Listen Hiccup, I'm not sure if-"
"Wait, I see something." Hiccup said as he pointed in the distance.
Everyone looked and saw in the snowstorm something was flying right towards them. Everyone began to smile and believed the Snow Wraith was falling for their trap.
"Here it comes." Astrid whispered.
Hiccup looked closely and noticed something strange about its flight pattern. He looked towards Toothless and noticed him growling at whatever was approaching. "Guys, something's not right here."
His worries were justified when out of the snowstorm Soundwave came flying in and transformed as he landed near the wooden statues. He was flanked by a squadron of flying Vehicons and used a Ground abridge to bring along Knockout.
"Oh great, as if this day couldn't get any worse." Ruffnut said sarcastically.
"What are Decepticons doing here?" Astrid asked.
"I don't know, but stay hidden. They haven't spotted us yet." Hiccup said as they all remained hidden.
Soundwave and Knockout looked at the burning statues in curiosity. "Strange method, even for humans."
Soundwave didn't say anything as he just walked past the burning statues and stepped right on the fake Snotloud head, causing it to break. This made Snotloud very angry.
"Oh, that faceless freak did not just do that!" Snotloud said angrily as he pounded his fist on the side of the cave wall.
This action caused Hookfang to set himself ablaze and started to melt the walls. Toothless felt some ice pebbles hit his head and looked up. Knowing what was going to happen, Toothless pushed Hiccup out of the cave, but the others weren't so lucky as they and their dragons became trapped.
"Thanks, bud." Hiccup said gratefully before turning around and saw all of the Decepticon's eyes were on him. "Uh oh." Hiccup said as Toothless stood in front of him in a protective stance.
Knockout smiled sinisterly as he brought out his electric staff. "Now this just isn't your lucky day."
Hiccup just smirked instead of being afraid. "You sure about that?"
Optimus transformed out of the snow and punched Knockout in the face. The other Autobots transformed and started firing at the Decepticons, who returned fire.
Crosshairs fired both his guns at a couple of Vehicons until they fell. One tried to attack him with its claws, but he held it back with one of his guns. "Get out of my face!" Crosshairs said as he shot at it with his other gun point blank.
Bulkhead used his mace to smash a couple of Vehicons that came close while Smokescreen used his blasters to cover him from a distance. Elita charged at Knockout and kicked right in the stomach, pushing him back. He retaliated with his staff, but she managed to dodge.
Smokescreen saw Soundwave watching in the distance and charged right at him. "Here I come you-" Smokescreen Autobot mark started to beep and flash blue and he started to slow down.
Soundwave saw it coming and bashed Smokescreen away effortlessly. The other Autobot's markings started doing the same thing and they began to slow down.
Elita groaned as she placed her hands on her knees as she felt like she could barely stand. "No...not now."
Knockout saw this and smiled as he knew what was going on. "Seems you've been in the cold for too long. As we just got here, so you're at a disadvantage."
To prove his point, Knockout thrusted his staff and shocked Elita. "Gaaah!" She screamed in pain.
Optimus took down the last Vehicon with a punch and heard his beloved's scream. "Elita!" Optimus charged in and tried to attack the mad doctor, but his movements were also slowing down so he was able to dodge them.
Soundwave stepped forward as Bulkhead tried to hit him with his mace, but Soundwave effortlessly moved out the way and hit him on the head with his wing-like arms. Smokescreen came in again, but the faceless Decepticon sprouted his tentacles to grab him and toss him right into Crosshairs.
All the Autobots were kneeling down in exhaustion as the could feel the cold was making their conditions worse. The two Decepticons maybe outnumbered, but they were primed and ready while their enemies were all weak.
Hiccup was still being protected by Toothless as they stood behind the Autobots and the dragon prepared to fire at them.
Knockout smirked cruelly. "Now, care to tell us where the rest of your fleshy friends are, or is this going to get even more messy?"
The sealed cave exploded in flames as all the dragon riders on their dragons stepped out of the cave. The dragons ignited their mouths as they were threatening to rain fire on their adversaries.
"Right here, you Decepticreeps!" Ruffnut challenged.
"Stand down now, or be incinerated." Astrid threatened.
Knockout still held his smirk while Soundwave still had his blank face trained on them. "You're Autobot friends are crippled from the cold, and you really think you all can make a difference?" Knockout said as he held out his staff.
Hiccup did think that they still held a disadvantage, but his worried look changed to smile when he spotted something heading right towards Knockout from behind. "Maybe we can't, but he can."
Knockout was confused by what he meant, until he felt something crash into him from behind and pushed him into the ground. He looked up slightly to see the Snow Wraith flying above him. It gave a chilling roar and dive bombed right at the Decepticon doctor and attempted to bite his head off. He gave a fearful yell as he used his staff to protect himself from the dragon trying to bite his head off.
The Autobots and the dragons took this opportunity to fire their blasters and flame breaths respectively at Soundwave, who tried to fire back as best he can, but even he was started to get overwhelmed. Knockout managed to push the Snow Wraith back just enough for him to take his staff and shock the Snow Wraith. It roared in pain before falling into the snow, alive, but unconscious.
Knockout got back up, but Bulkhead came in and hit on the head with his mace. Elita came in from behind, jumped off the large Autobots back and performed a high jump kick right into mad doctor.
Knockout got back up, but backed away when Hookfang shot a stream of fire that nearly roasted him. "I think perhaps this mission was a bust." Knockout called out to Soundwave.
Soundwave was hit in the stomach by Optimus, but managed to lean back to avoid getting hit in the face screen. Seeing as how the odds were no longer in their favor, Soundwave opened up a Ground Bridge and he plus Knockout retreated.
"Yeah, that's right! You creeps better run!" Snotloud called out.
Gothi came up and spotted the unconscious Snow Wraith. She walked up to it and patted it on the nose. While she may have had a deep fear of this dragon, she couldn't have fault it from just doing what any dragon would do if someone else invaded its territory. After seeing that the dragon was going to be okay, she reached into its mouth and pulled out the correct tooth they needed.
Gothi walked up to Hiccup and handed the tooth to Hiccup. "Thank you, Gothi." Hiccup said gratefully.
"Well, I'd say that's enough excitement for one day." Snotloud said.
"Agreed." Hiccup said as he looked towards the Autobots as they looked worse for wear. "Let's call Ratchet and get off this island. The Autobots need medical attention immediately."
/
It was late in the afternoon in Berk and the dragon riders and Autobots came back via a Ground Bridge. The Autobots that went with the dragon riders were currently being checked on by Ratchet. The rest of them went up to the forge with the dragon riders to check up on Gobber.
"So Gobber, how was it being Gothi?" Hiccup asked.
Wheeljack chuckled. "You want to tell him or should I?"
"Oh hush you." Gobber said as he lightly glared at the Wrecker before turning back to Hiccup. "Well, I didn't get to wallop anyone with my staff, but-"
"Gobber! Gobber!" Agnar yelled as he ran up to the forge. "I must have more of that potion you made me earlier."
"Seriously?" Wheeljack asked in confusion
"So, it cured your stomach ailment, eh?" Gobber said proudly.
The response he got was Agnar vomiting up on the ground. "Far from it, but it did cure something else." He took off his helmet to reveal one strand of hair on his bald head. "It's made my hair grow back!"
"Well, I'll be." Jazz said in amazement. "That must have been some strong stuff."
"Hey congrats, Agnar. You look so-" Snotloud patted Agnar in the back, but that caused him to vomit again. "Good."
"Well, Gobber, just whip up some more of that potion for him." Hiccup suggested as he tried waving off the smell.
Gobber looked around slightly uneasy. "Uh, well, it was very complicated, and I'm retired. Gothi why don't you take this one?"
Gothi glare at him before smacking him with her staff and took Agnar away to give him actual medical treatment.
"You have no idea what was in that stuff, do you?" Wheeljack said with a smirk.
"No, not a drop, but here's your key." Gobber said as he handed the Snow Wraith tooth to Hiccup.
Hiccup brought out the dragon eye and placed the tooth into the keyhole. Everyone watched with excitement as they waited to see what would happen. However, nothing seemed to be happening, much to everyone's confusion.
"Isn't something supposed to happen by now?" Bumblebee asked.
"We almost died for that?" Snotloud said angrily.
"Man, what a letdown." Sideswipe said.
"No, there got to be more to it than that. It just doesn't make sense." Hiccup said as he examined the Dragon Eye more closely.
"Welcome to my world, sister." Tuffnut said as he continued to scratch his teeth. "Nothing makes sense when you've got itchy teeth."
/
At night, Hiccup was in his room continuing to try and figure out the secrets to the Dragon Eye. Bumblebee stood just outside his window with his head looking in.
"No luck, yet?" Bumblebee asked.
"No, but I think it's time I call it a night." Hiccup said as he placed the Dragon Eye on his desk.
"You'll probably have better luck tomorrow." Bumblebee said.
"Yeah, you're probably right. Well, goodnight Bee." Hiccup said as he went to bed and Toothless went to his rock slab.
"Goodnight Hiccup." Bumblebee transformed and went into shut down mode.
Toothless heated up his slab of rock with his plasma and the light from caused something to shine in the Dragon Eye. Hiccup noticed this and picked it up and placed it on a stall.
"Toothless, come here." Toothless walked over and was right next to him. "Do that again, give me a low flame."
Toothless did as he was told and produced a low flame in his mouth. The light seemed to react with the Dragon Eye and the object shined out some strange markings that Hiccup have never seen before.
"This...changes...everything." Hiccup said in amazement.
/
Glacial Island
The Snow Wraith stared off on the distance as it stood on top of a snowbank. It gave off a deafening roar as it it took off and flew to another part of the snowy island.
The moment it took off though, it kicked off the snowy mound it was standing on and revealed something strange.
A large metal hand was sticking out of the snow and looked completely frozen. It remained perfectly still for a few moments.
Before its fingers began to twitch and move slightly.
/
Hey everybody, and here's the next chapter!
If you haven't noticed, I cut away the scenes that involved Gobber taking over Gothi's job out of this chapter. As funny as those scenes were, and trust me, I was laughing the entire time, this chapter was already so long that I had no choice but to cut those scenes out. I'll be doing that a lot for some chapters if certain scenes do not go along with the main story.
So, the dragon riders and Autobots got the Dragon Eye and now know what it can do. How will this affect them?
What was that signal the Decepticons were tracking on Glacial Island?
What was that giant hand sticking out of the snow?
These answers will be answered in the future. Until then, see you all next time!