Author's Note: Here's chapter three! I hope you enjoy it! =D

Three: The Skipta

The Outcast dungeons looked exactly the same way Hiccup had remembered them. Old, grimy, and extremely unpleasant. Hiccup grimaced when he saw bones piled up in a corner, and the smell—oh, the smell!—was worse than Toothless' fish breath and dragon manure combined.

The Dragon Riders followed Hiccup through the maze of tunnels. The cells were completely empty. Hiccup remembered how frightened and scared the dragons that Alvin had kidnapped looked, and he was glad that he had freed them before anything bad happened. Hiccup had no idea what would have happened if Alvin managed to gain control of a Scauldron, a Whispering Death, and a Changewing. Those three dragons were a recipe for disaster.

Light footsteps echoed through the dungeon, and Hiccup had never found him and his friends so quiet. Sure, there was the stealth practice in the woods when they tried their very best to be quiet and still ended up making noise, but the Riders didn't make a sound. It was so quiet, one could probably drop a pin and hear it.

"How much further?" Astrid whispered.

"I don't know," said Hiccup. "This is the farthest I've gone."

"So we're lost?" asked Snotlout.

"No, we're not lost," said Hiccup. He looked around. Where would Alvin keep an extremely rare dragon that possessed a very unique ability? Hiccup wanted to say split up, but that would risk him and the others getting caught.

"Wait, I have an idea," said Astrid. The Hofferson pulled out a few plants from her sachtal and waved them through the air. The other Riders stared at her.

"Is Astrid...leaf dancing?" asked Ruffnut. The female Thorston turned to Hiccup. "You leaf dance?"

Hiccup scoffed. "No! I don't know what she's doing."

"In the book you found, it said that Skipta's have very powerful noses," Astrid explained as she waved the leaves around in an almost ridiculous manner. Hiccup couldn't hold back a snicker as Astrid waved the leaves around in the air like crazy.

"Oh yeah!" said Snotlout, catching on with her plan. He pulled out a few leaves and began to wave them around in the air too.

"So you're spreading the scent of the plants in the air hoping that the Skipta responds," Ruffnut summed up. She nodded approvingly and then pulled out two sticks with bright green leaves protruding from them and began to wave them.

"You guys look ludicrous," said Fishlegs, but he pulled out some leaves and waved them around. "This might not even work."

"We're desperate, okay?" said Hiccup as he pulled out two flowers and began waving them around. "It's worth a shot."

The Dragon Riders had no idea how long they had been standing in the middle of the room, waving around various types of plants as if they were doing some kind of dance. But after some time, a small croon could be heard coming from one of the tunnels.

"Did you guys hear that?" Astrid said excitedly.

"Oh by Thor I heard it," said Hiccup with a smile. "Come on! It came from this way!"

The Dragon Riders ran down the tunnel excitedly. Hiccup navigated through every twist and turn, leading the Riders toward the Skipta. In a few moments, they arrived in front of the cell that was holding the large dragon. It's scales were white but had various colors reflecting off of them. It's eyes were bright with fear, but Hiccup could make out hints of inquisitiveness. The dragon was large and its neck was chained to the ground.

"We found it!" Tuffnut cheered a little too loudly. The Riders shushed him.

"We found it…" Tuffnut whispered, albeit lamely.

"Now we need to get it out of here," said Hiccup. He turned to Astrid and watched as the Hofferson approached the dragon slowly. She held out a few leaves and the Skipta stuck its snout through one of the bars and ate them out of Astrid's hand. The poor thing must not have eaten in a while because the entire sachtal was gone in only a couple of minutes.

"Hey, girl," said Astrid. She reached her hand out slowly. "I'm sure you really don't like it in that crammed up cage, right? My friends and I are here to help. You're going to have to trust us."

The Skipta was wary for a moment, but soon leaned her head into Astrid's palm and closed her eyes. Astrid smiled victoriously and turned to the others.

"Now we just need to get the key," said Astrid.

"Or, I can just pick the lock with this dagger I found in the forge earlier," Snotlout said. Jorgeson held up the tool and proceeded to poke it into the lock and fumble with it. The lock snapped off and the door swung open, but there was still the chain that was attached around the Skipta's neck. Snotlout swiftly picked that lock too, and the Skipta was free.

"Hmm, you thinkin' what I'm thinkin', bro?" asked Ruffnut as she turned to her brother.

Tuffnut nodded. "Yep."

"What are you guys talking about?" asked Fishlegs.

"I got it!" said Ruffnut suddenly. "I have the perfect name. Lumina."

Tuffnut huffed. "I can't wait until I have my personality back. I'm the one who's supposed to come up with the names!"

Before the twins could argue any further, Hiccup reminded them that they had to get the Skipta out of the dungeons and escape Outcast Island before they were discovered. Astrid lured the Skipta out with a small leaf that she had dug out of her bag and Lumina seemed extremely ecstatic about not being trapped in a cage anymore. Hiccup was surprised that a dragon as large as Lumina could be as quiet as a mouse. The Dragon Riders slowly made their way through the tunnels when the sound of footsteps reached their ears. Hiccup's eyes widened. It was the Outcasts!

"Quick! Hide!" hissed Hiccup. The Dragon Riders looked around frantically. Where could they hide? Where could they go? The shadows of the approaching Outcasts appeared on the wall and low, gruff voices came into hearing distance. Astrid looked around and pointed to a large cell.

"In there!" the Hofferson whisper shouted. The Riders all ran inside and shut the door, and then curled up into the corner huddled against each other. Lumina did her best to hide them by wrapping her wings around the Riders and, to their surprise, blended in perfectly with the stone wall.

"Skiptas must be a distant cousin of the Changewing," Snotlout remarked. He laughed. "Interesting!"

"Hush up!" the other Riders whispered in unison. Snotlout clamped his mouth shut as the footsteps grew louder. The Dragon Riders stopped breathing.

"I was sure I 'eard somethin' down 'ere," came the voice of an Outcast.

"Are you sure your ears weren't playing tricks on you again?" camed another familiar voice. Savage.

"They weren't! Said the Outcast soldier. "I heard some voices. They sounded young."

"Young you say?" Savage said. Hiccup could picture him rubbing his chin. "How many of them did you hear?"

"Five. Maybe six," answered the Outcast soldier.

"And you didn't think to go and investigate?" said Savage, irritation decorating the edges of his voice.

"Um...no?" said the soldier. Hiccup nearly sighed. Alvin's men were well trained for fighting, but when it came to common sense, it was as if their brains had been pounded out of their heads during battle.

Hiccup could hear Savage push the Outcast soldier out of the way and pause in front of the cell they were hiding in. The Dragon Riders tensed. Hiccup could almost feel Savage's stare. He then heard footsteps leave the cell door, and he could hear the soldier that he had been talking to stand up.

"Those voices you heard were probably those blasted Dragon Riders," Savage growled. "And if they're here, it means they're after the Skipta." Savage paused for a moment. "Go check that dragon's cell," the Outcast ordered. "And if there's nothing, send everyone on a search around the island and don't stop until you find that dragon and the Riders."

"Yes sir," said the soldier, and Hiccup could hear her quick footsteps leave the area. It was a while before Savage left, but when he did, Lumina unfurled her wings and looked at the Riders with a croon.

"They're onto us," said Hiccup. "We need to get out of here and fast."

"But they're going to see us leaving," said Snotlout. Jorgeson gasped. "They'll probably shoot us out of the sky if we manage to get into the air!"

"Us or you?" asked Fishlegs.

"Fishlegs!" Astrid exclaimed, pure shock on her face. "That's...mean!"

"I know. I intended it to be," said Fishlegs with a smug look.

Snotlout clenched his fists. "It is taking all of my willpower not to punch you right now."

"You wouldn't be able to anyway. You're too chicken," teased Fishlegs. He even started clucking like one.

"THAT'S IT!" Snotlout shouted. He charged for Fishlegs but Astrid held him , the Jorgeson clawed toward Fishlegs direction, and Fishlegs only mocked him further by laughing.

"Lemme at him! Lemme at him!" Snotlout yelled.

"Fight, fight, fight!" the twins chanted from the corner.

"No, no!" said Hiccup. "No fight, fight, fight. We need to get ourselves together!"

But the entire cell was almost chaos. Astrid was struggling to hold Snotlout from maiming Fishlegs and the twins were hollering for a fight to happen between them. Hiccup tried to get everyone's attention, but nobody listened to him. Hiccup felt something snap inside of him.

"EVERYBODY SHUT UP!" Hiccup yelled. The room quieted instantly. Even Lumina seemed shocked by the uncalled outburst. Hiccup's eyes widened and he flushed beet red.

"Uh...I mean...um…" Hiccup cleared his throat. At least he got everyone to quiet down.

"That was so Astrid," Ruffnut said. Even Astrid agreed.

Hiccup shook his head. "Anyway, we need to regroup! All this arguing and craziness isn't going to get us anywhere!" Hiccup turned to Fishlegs. "You need to stop teasing everybody and learn that the world doest revolve around you!"

Fishlegs rolled his eyes but seemed to get the message. Hiccup then turned to the twins.

"You guys need to stop encouraging unnecessary things," said Hiccup. The twins looked at each other and shrugged in response.

Hiccup then turned to Snotlout. "Snotlout, you need to learn to stand up for yourself. The right way. Not the crazy, psycho, wild way." Snotlout only crossed his arms and huffed.

Hiccup then got to Astrid. "And Astrid…" Hiccup paused. Astrid hadn't done anything wrong the entire time. Hiccup bit his lip and had a sudden feeling of deja vu. The young viking shook his head and then said, "What I'm trying to say is everyone needs to start...start acting like their real selves."

"But we can't," said Snotlout. "We got swapped, remember?"

"We did," Hiccup said, but then he gestured to Lumina. "But we can switch back."

The Dragon Riders turned to the dragon that was looking down upon them. Lumina cocked her head curiously as Hiccup walked up to her. He held his hand out.

"I know we intruded on your home, but we didn't mean any harm," Hiccup said softly. "You were just defending yourself, and I know that, but we'd really like to be switched back. Could you maybe...do your thing and return us back to normal?"

Lumina seemed to think for a moment, but the dragon purred and rubbed her nose into Hiccup's hand. The Haddock took that as a yes.

"You mean we're going to be switched back now?" asked Snotlout, hopefulness gleaming in his eyes.

"Yes," answered Hiccup with a smile. He turned to Lumina. "Do your thing."

The dragon nodded and then flapped her wings dramatically. They seemed to glow with an enchanting light, and she let out a siren-like noise—the same noise that the Riders had heard back on the mountain. Hiccup could feel something being taken out of him. Something that belonged to someone else. And it was replaced with something familiar. Something that belonged to him.

Lumina quieted. Her wings stopped flapping. And the Riders passed out on the floor, unconscious.