Yay! I did it!
Okay, now, it is coming close to that time (The End), so that means hiatus. Which also means an AU. Now, I did get a request for a book/movie crossover using only cannon characters from each respective universe. Certainly something a little different for me (shout out to 'the core of justice'). But, I also have had Njola (that Pocahontas AU, if anyone still remembers that idea) half finished on the back burner for over a year. What to do, what to do… Maybe I could do both? Certainly would give me more time to get Part 1 of Race to the Edge set up. We'll see what inspiration gives. I'm pretty wishy washy that way, aren't I.
Smoke Gets in Your Eyes:
"Trader Johann's here!" Fishlegs screamed. "Everyone, Trader Johann's here!"
A crowd gathered all around Fishlegs awaiting as Johann docked his boat. Everyone couldn't wait to get on board to see all the new and wondrous things the trader brought with him this time.
"Johann shmohann", Snotlout was the only grouch. "That guy never lets me touch any of his cool stuff."
Johann's ship docked and his gangplank was let down allowing people to board. Fishlegs was up first, quickly followed by the other riders and Gobber. Hiccup soon followed, but stopped quick at Snotlout's side.
"Well that's because last time he was here", she started in answer, "you broke half of it."
Snotlout scoffed, Hiccup continuing on her way. "It's my word against his."
"Ah, Berk!" Johann announced over the boat to his potential customers. "The crown jewel of the entire archipelago!"
"Over here, Trader Johann!" Fishlegs called Johann to turn around, the boy bouncing in his excitement. "Ooooh, what did you bring today?"
"Oh, many wondrous things, Mr. Fishlegs", Johann responded. "Treasures from every coast and every shore." Johann bent down to a box and brought out one pair of white pearl earrings. "Like the Pearls of Danger", he displayed. "Perfect for that special lady in your life."
"You know, those could be yours, Astrid", Snotlout said, Astrid's smile turning into a scowl. "Just say the word."
"Yuk", Astrid stormed away.
"That's not the word", Snotlout shot after her.
Meanwhile, Gobber was rummaging around looking for something he couldn't seem to find. Johann took quick notice.
"Ah, Mr. Gobber", he gained Gobber's attention. "What can I interest you in?"
"Why don't you wow me Johann", Gobber challenged him. "Knock me off my feet."
"Ah, putting me to the test are ya. Okay..." Johann trailed off.
"Hang on", Gobber then said. He walked over to a pile that looked to be nothing more than junk. Most of it was covered by a red quilt. "What is this?"
"Oh, nothing too exciting. Just an old pile of—"
"Scrap metal!" Gobber pulled the sheet off. "It's perfect! I've run out of things to pound around here."
"Whoa", Tuffnut stared and awed. "Its the most beautiful thing I've ever seen."
"It's just scrap metal", Aric pointed out.
"No, I'm talking about that mace." Tuffnut said, and there at the edge of the deck laid a lone mace. It stood upright just waiting for someone to pick it up. That someone appeared to be Tuffnut, as he started running towards it. He picked it up in awe. "Whoa… Hey, Mace", he then began talking to it, much to everyone's concern. "You want to come home with me, don't ya."
"Yes I do, Tuffnut. I want to needlessly destroy other people's property with you", Tuffnut, or, the mace, answered.
"Oh, Macy. You get me", Tuffnut hugged the it in turn, and Aric couldn't stop watching the scene. He wasn't sure if it was fascination, concern, or both, but he just couldn't take his eyes away from the pure insanity before his eyes.
"I see you are a gentleman that recognizes quality when he sees it", Johann walked up to Gobber as he looked through the scraps of metal. "This is the finest metal from the furthest reaches of the archipelago!"
Gobber bit down on a broken blade of what was once a sword, then nodded. "I'll take it all", he said.
"Excellent! Always a pleasure, Mr. Gobber", Johann elated, when a crash rang in his ears. Johann turned around and gasped at the sight; an entire set of the finest dishes he'd just acquired broken to pieces, and Snotlout Jorgenson in the middle of it all.
"Wasn't me", Snotlout quickly said, fast walking out from the wreckage.
"Oh, I really hate that kid", Johann muttered to himself.
"Hiccup", Gobber called to the halfling simply looking around. "Do you think you could spare a hook, lass", he asked.
"Not a problem, Gobber", Hiccup said. "Hey guys", Hiccup started, but she didn't need to finish. They already knew. One by one, the riders hopped onto their dragons, Tuffnut with Macy in hand.
"Lets do this, Macy!" Tuffnut exclaimed.
Gobber quickly snatched Snotlout before he could mount, though. "Hey!" Snotlout complained.
"I paid good money for that scrap", Gobber chastised. "I'll not have you dropping it into the ocean." With a rope in each dragon's claw, four dragons and riders took to the sky with the pile headed for Gobber's workshop.
000
As the sun rose the next day, Hiccup figured on mixing things up and decided on a simple stroll through the village before their usual fight. Toothless agreed to the idea, but as the two stretched their legs, what was supposed to be a quiet walk turned into a show of panic throughout the village. All around people were talking, fighting, gossiping, crying, all about missing objects.
"Oookaay, what did we just walk into?" Hiccup wondered.
"A mess", Toothless answered.
Hiccup looked at him with a dry expression. "Clever." Seeing her friends, Hiccup went over to them passing a man yelling about his disappeared favorite milk jugs. "Wha-what is going on here?" she asked them.
"Eh, a bunch of stuff got stolen from the village last night", Snotlout answered.
"And some of us are taking it pretty hard", Astrid added, looking over to Tuffnut on his knees.
"Macy! MAAACYYY!" he cried. "Oh, golly, she's gone. NOOOOOOOOO!" The riders simply stood in utter bewilderment as Tuffnut then turned to his sister, an accusatory look in his eyes. "You! You were always jealous of her! You knew that I loved her more! Because I told you every so often! AND I WROTE IT IN YOUR ROOM ON THE WALL!"
"We have quite the situation on our hands", Stoick walked up. "Axes, shields, helmets, drinking goblets, all stolen."
"Axes, shields, helmets, drinking goblets…?" Hiccup mulled. "What do all those things have in common?" she muttered to herself.
"Obviously, duh, they're all stolen", Snotlout said, knocking on the helmet on his head. His metal helmet.
"No. They're metal", Hiccup realized. "Everything that's missing is metal!"
"Hiccup, everything we own is metal", Aric brought her back to Midgard.
"I-it's a theory. Work with me", Hiccup shrugged. It was really all she had.
"I miss the little spikes around your head the most..." Tuffnut continued crying.
"Whatever is going on", her dad continued. "I need to find whoever is responsible before this panic gets any worse."
"Stoick!" Gobber ran up. "Bucket and Mulch are slapping each other with sturgeons!"
"What happened to their bludgeons?"
"Stolen! Hence the sturgeon."
"In some ways I guess that's probably better", her dad admitted.
"Ah, dad", Hiccup cut in. "What do ya say you take care of the sturgeon slapping, while Aric and I do a little investigating?" Her father nodded to that, and he and Gobber went off to take care of the sturgeon slapping problem.
"Investigating?" Aric questioned coming to Hiccup's side. "What exactly are you planning, Hiccup?"
"To return to the scenes of the crimes and see if we can find out something about this metal thief", Hiccup told him.
"I miss her!" Tuffnut still cried over Macy, actual tears coming down. Sometimes people wondered what was wrong with Tuffnut. Then they remembered how loaded of a question that was. "She had such a weird voice..." It didn't mean Hiccup still didn't want to know the answer.
000
The first place Hiccup and Aric went to was Gobber's workshop. Most of the stolen metal had been taken from his place.
"Gobber, can you remember whose been here in the last couple of days?" Hiccup asked.
"Mmm, hard to say", Gobber scratched his head. "Business has been booming. Only forty-one shopping days left 'till Snoggletog, you know. Don't wait until the last minute!"
Hiccup hummed as she looked at the floor. "No footprints", she noted. "Anything, bud?"
"Just Gobber and a lot of dragons", Toothless said.
"Huh. Nothing out of the ordinary there", Hiccup shrugged.
"This metal thief won't get the best of me", Gobber marched strongly through the workshop. "I've set a booby trap that's guaranteed to nab him—" he paused, his hands raised to the air.
"What's the matter?" Aric wondered.
"Ah...it would appear I've trapped myself in my own booby", Gobber whispered. "No. One. Move. A. Muscle."
Hiccup and Aric just looked to each other with concern.
000
Their last stop of the day didn't prove to be of much help either. Some days the twins were indispensable for their help, but this wasn't one of them.
"This is where Macy was before her…'Disappearance'. Quote. Unquote", Tuffnut directed before staring Ruffnut down. Where Macy last was looked to be a wooden frame with a low shelf covered in flowers, stones, and decorations. It looked more like some kind of shrine, or a place to worship an idol of a god, rather than a place to hold a person's mace.
"I didn't take your stupid mace", Ruffnut crossed her arms.
"It was her favorite spot", Tuffnut ignored her, placing a hand to the frame. "She just loved watching the sunsets. Or this wall, just depending on which side I left her on."
"This is weird", Aric whispered to Hiccup, becoming just a little disturbed.
"Yeah, e-even for the twins", Hiccup couldn't help but agree.
"Hey", Ruffnut apparently overheard. "Leave me out of this one."
Splitting up, Hiccup and Aric inspected the house for any clues, but just like in Gobber's workshop there was nothing. "Strange", Hiccup muttered as she inspected the door. "No forced entry, not a single footprint…"
"And no eye witnesses", Aric added.
"I just don't get it."
"I do", Ruffnut voiced. "It's so obvious. And you call yourselves detectives."
"Uh, first of all, no, we don't call ourselves detectives", Hiccup corrected. "And second, what's so obvious?"
Ruffnut beckoned the two closer. "What you're looking for is not just a metal thief, but a ghost metal thief", she said, and she seemed confident about it too. Hiccup and Aric looked over to each other, and it was a silent agreement to leave.
"Well that was helpful", Hiccup stated when they reached the fresh air of the real world. "As usual." The entire day was a bust. Every house they went to didn't have a shred of evidence to even suggest there was a break in. It made about as much sense as twins.
"It's getting late", Aric pointed out, the sun already setting with a light winter fog rolling in. "We'll start again in the morning."
000
Before going to bed that night, Hiccup made sure the front door was locked, and the shutters were too, but she also left a trail of metal objects to her room starting from the porch outside. If any metal thief dared to break in, she and Toothless would catch them.
With light still flickering in its lantern, Hiccup fell asleep flat on her stomach on her bed. It was such a long day, Toothless didn't know how she hadn't succumbed to the call of sleep sooner. He couldn't fight it either. Flying from house to house, trying to sniff out the scent of the possible thief, it was tiring. So, too bogged with sleep, Toothless hadn't heard sounds of rustling and hissing getting ever closer and closer. Not until he heard a yelp.
Eyes flying open, Toothless jumped from his stone slab seeing Hiccup dangling by her metal leg in a cloud of thick fog. Kicking and scrambling she screamed, "Toothless! Toothless!" He took hold of one of Hiccup's flailing hands in his toothless mouth and pulled, Hiccup flying forward to the ground between him and the hissing and clicking fog. Toothless growled as the fog encroached his halfling, his wings furled out for her protection. Then, remembering seeing this fog before, remembering these hisses and screeches, Toothless flapped his wings forward and back. The fog, or smoke, dispersed, and tiny dragons were revealed.
"Smothering Smokebreaths?" Hiccup stole the words right out of his mouth. The small younglings all screeched and flew in a panic to grab anything shiny and metal they could. "Hey!" Hiccup shouted in surprise. She rushed for the one with her mother's helmet, grabbing the object before he could fly away with it. "No! Get your paws off that!" she pulled and stole the helmet away.
With one warning blast, the younglings were scared off. They all scurried and flew out the large window over Hiccup's bed, some having gotten away with a few possessions. At least none of it was very important.
"Well, bud", Hiccup prompted, her rescued helmet tucked underneath her arm. "It looks like we found our thief."
000
The following morning, Astrid and Aric woke up to find their shoulder guards missing. Their parents ones were missing too. When they met up with Fishlegs and Snotlout in the square, they found them without their helmets.
"The thief hit you guys too, huh", Fishlegs said more as a statement rather than a question. It was obvious they'd all been hit.
"I feel naked without my helmet", Snotlout nearly whined. Aric couldn't really blame him though. He felt naked without his guards.
"Me too!" Tuffnut voiced as he and Ruffnut strolled over. They too were without their helmets. "But, I made a sketch of the thief. It came to me in a dream. See, my self conscious is working over time. Like a sports team that just can't win." Tuffnut pulled out a rolled up parchment and with one shake it unrolled to reveal a drawing of, well, himself.
"Um, Tuffnut, that's you", Astrid pointed out.
"No it's not", Tuffnut shook his head.
"Uh, yes. It is", Aric affirmed.
"No it isn't. I think I would know myself if I—" Tuffnut turned the parchment around to look when he paused, looking closer. "Huh. I guess it is", he shrugged.
Just as Stoick approached, his helmet still on his head, Hiccup and Toothless flew overhead and landed with haste. It was almost in an urgent pace.
"Doesn't look like anything of yours got stolen", Snotlout said looking towards her leg. He sounded a little bitter about that fact too.
"No, but I know who the thief is", Hiccup dismounted. "Or, should I say, who our thieves are." A moment of silence followed as everyone waited to hear what she saw. "Adolescent Smokebreath dragons."
"Of course!" Fishlegs shouted. "Smokebreath dragons use metal to build their nests!"
"Why would Smokebreaths be on Berk?" Stoick asked.
"Chief! Coming in for the big win! Smothering Smokebreaths normally don't stray far from home on Breakneck Bog."
"So the question is", Aric stepped in, "How did they get here?"
"That's the part I'm still unclear about", Hiccup said, when Gobber ran up screaming like a mad man.
"I've been robbed!" he screamed. "The thief evaded every one of my booby traps and took all the metal I bought from Trader Johann! Left me with nearly a scrap of…scrap!"
That's when a light sparked in Hiccup's eyes. "Dad, I think I know how the Smokebreaths got here."
000
"...That's when I said, 'what's for dinner?' and the Chief of the Mori Ori tribe licked his lips and said, 'You are'." Johann cracked up as he told the tale to two random Berkians he just so happened to meet when he'd sat down with his meal in the Great Hall. He always cracked up when he got to that part; the mere thought of it was just too funny. The two didn't appear as jolly, looking to be more concerned than anything else, but Johann payed no mind; he was having too much fun. "My first mate, would have been his first course, ha!" he continued on, when the doors to the Great Hall opened and Chief Stoick walked straight up to him, little Hiccup right at his side.
"Ah, Miss Hiccup. And the great Chief", Johann gave a slight bow. "To what do I owe this pleasure?"
"Well, Johann", Hiccup started. "We were wondering where you might have gotten that scrap metal you sold Gobber?"
"Unfortunately, my old friends, I can't possibly reveal my sources", he told them, certain private seller-buyer confidentialities and all that, but Stoick could be quite persuasive at times. Stepping passed his daughter, and with a growl, Stoick's towering formed dwarfed Johann in an obvious threat. "Ehh", Johann stepped back with hands up. "Of course, there are times when it's best to share", his voice went up an octave. "I procured it from a Berserker who was offering it at a price I could not refuse. He had just come from an island that we both well and equally fear", his voice went up again with that statement, hunching into himself to make himself smaller.
"Breakneck Bog", Hiccup said strongly. It seemed he'd confirmed her suspicions.
"You didn't hear that from me."
Hiccup groaned. "Well that wasn't just a pile of scrap metal, Johann, that was a Smokebreath nest with hatchlings inside it. Hatchlings, of which, have grown up and are trying to build their own nest here on Berk."
"Well, uh, well, that's unfortunate news." Johann honestly didn't know what to say to get himself out of this one. Lucky for him, Stoick and Hiccup just turned around and left, although clearly upset with his non-cautionary actions. Even Hiccup's Night Fury growled at him, which Johann jumped at and dropped the chicken that had still been in his hand.
"No need to thank me!" he still shouted over as a show of good faith as they all went out the door. "Now, where was I?" he reached for another leg across the table. "Oh yes. The first course." It was only then he noticed the two Berkian citizens were gone.
000
"Well that answers how the Smokebreaths got here", Hiccup said as she and her father walked down the steps from the Great Hall. Hiccup was honestly pretty upset with Johann's carelessness and negligence in selling that scrap metal to Gobber when he knew it came from a person who'd just come from Breakneck Bog, of which he knew housed Smothering Smokebreaths who built their nests out of metal. Maybe she was expecting too much from the trader, though.
As they walked through the village, they saw wheel barrows, buckets, benches, and anything else that required a nail, nut, or bolt collapse upon use. No one could get anything done; not even sit down to read a book as one man tried and fell flat on his backside. Gobber joined them soon after and her father asked for a report. "Gobber, what's the latest", he said.
"Just as I'd feared, Stoick. Almost no metal left in all of Berk", Gobber answered.
"And what of the armory", her dad sounded worried.
"Eh, let's just say the axe handles outnumber the axes."
Her dad was obviously not happy with that answer as he made a noise somewhere in between a groan and a growl.
"Oh. And there's this", Gobber continued. He stopped them beside a catapult, and with one tap of his hook, it crumbled to pieces.
"Without weapons, Berk is vulnerable", her father said, but Hiccup wasn't going to let him forget they weren't defenseless.
"Dad, we still have the dragons", she reminded him, a pack they had right on Berk happy to defend their home.
"And Dagur has an armada", her father countered. "A few dragons are no match for a large scale attack."
At that, Hiccup had to admit he was right. Dagur's armada was far too big. If Dagur were to attack, even if all the dragons they currently had on Berk tried to fight, they'd still be outmatched. And if any dragon got hurt in the process, Hiccup didn't think she'd ever be able to forgive herself. They needed to fix this quick.
Gathering the riders at the academy, Hiccup paced before them relaying the objective. "We have to find that missing metal", she said. "Especially the weapons. Without them, we're virtually defenseless."
"Oh, Macy must be so alone and scared out there!" Tuffnut worried. "It's hard out there for a mace. Oh, Macy…" he put his head in his hands.
"Maybe the Smokebreaths took the metal to Breakneck Bog", Aric suggested.
"I don't think so", Fishlegs shook his head. He was lying against Meatlug with the Book of Dragons. "Smokebreaths can't fly long distances carrying a lot of weight", he read.
"Hey, Snotlout, how'd you get your helmet back?" Ruffnut noticed, and in fact, Snotlout was the the only one with a helmet.
"Ha-ha, it's my spare", Snotlout pretty much boasted from where he sat atop Hookfang. "A real warrior is never without his helmet."
"Pfft, can't say the same for his brain", Astrid joked, her arms crossed as she leaned over to her brother, though Snotlout was clearly meant to hear it.
"What is it with you today?!" Snotlout exclaimed. "You are so up—AH!" he screamed when one of Stormfly's burrs hit and spun his helmet. "HEY!"
"Snotlout come on, please?!" Hiccup tried to get their focus back on task.
"Nice shot", Aric whispered over to Astrid, but Hiccup heard it.
"You too, guys, come on. If the Smokebreaths didn't take the metal back to Breakneck Bog, they must have started building their own nest somewhere here on Berk."
"AWESOME!" Tuffnut cheered, which Hiccup responded with a glare. "Not awesome?"
"Definitely not awesome", Aric affirmed. "How are we gonna find them? They could be anywhere?"
"Well, there's only one way to catch a metal thief", Hiccup started. "And that's—"
"Wait!" Tuffnut interrupted. "Don't tell me. With a net! No! Nono, with a rope! No? Okay? Oh! D-d-don't say it! With a ropey-net."
"I think she was just gonna say, 'with metal'?" Astrid said.
"AWH! Was on the tip of my tongue! Stupid tongue. Flick it." Tuffnut stuck his tongue out for his sister. "Come on, flick it." One moment later, Ruffnut did.
"Right", Hiccup deadpanned, before shaking it off. "So, we to get all the metal from the area, and bait a trap that the Smokebreaths won't be able to resist. We lure them in, let them take the metal, and follow them right back to the nest. And, all our missing weapons."
"You did say all the metal, right Hiccup?" Astrid shifted her glance up to Snotlout.
"What?" Snotlout exclaimed. "Oh, you've got to be kidding me. What about her leg?! That's made of metal?!"
"Snotlout!" Hiccup exclaimed with shock.
"All I'm saying is fair is fair", Hookfang stepped closer.
"Snotlout, please!" she feared.
000
Gathering a pile with all the metal they could find, Snotlout's helmet placed at the top courtesy of Astrid, the dragon riders all hid behind some barrels to wait.
"I still think we should've flipped a yak pie for it", Snotlout griped.
"Shh", Hiccup spot the Smokebreaths, their mist rolling towards the pile. "It looks like they've taken the bait", she whispered. Pretty soon the pile was coated in it. "Okay. Very important", she turned to the group. "No one do absolutely anything until I give the signal."
" "GET 'EM!" " the twins charged in the smoke, an explosion from Barf and Belch in its wake.
"Yet another plan, perfectly executed", Hiccup said sarcastically. "Dragons everyone!"
As everyone got to their dragons the smoke from the Smokebreaths was clearing. The twins were in the thicket of it, sounds of a struggle evident as punches and clinks of metal could be heard.
"I got one!" Tuffnut shouted.
"I got one too!" Ruffnut shouted too, but the smoke was still blocking sight of the two. Once it settled, everyone could see the twins hadn't actually caught a Smokebreath. They caught each other.
"It's skin feels all sweaty and clammy. Like a girl", Tuffnut said, clearly holding Ruffnut atop their dragon to anyone watching the scene, when their eyes caught sight of the other.
"There they go!" Hiccup ignored their antics, looking up to where the Smokebreaths were escaping to. "Follow them!" she and Toothless took off first. With the rest of the riders catching up, the younglings led them to the forest. Then the cloud split up.
"Ookay, tricky…" Hiccup admired the play. "Everyone, split up!" Hiccup called, and each rider took a smoke cloud to follow. Hiccup and Toothless gained on their own, weaving through trees as the little dragons did, when the cloud suddenly stalled. "Toothless!" Hiccup freaked, and with a tug on his reins, they tried to stop. They both cringed as they ended up in the smoke anyway, but there were no dragons, Toothless' wings blowing the cloud away as he hovered. "Sneaky", Hiccup commented surprised. "Over there!" she spot them overhead, the tricky little dragons trying to double back. With a thrust of Toothless' wings they rushed to follow them.
They kept themselves hot on their tails—smoke trail?—but the Smokebreaths had more up their scales it seemed. Splitting apart, the younglings began surrounding Hiccup and Toothless, creeping close to Hiccup's metal leg and Toothless' metal based tail.
"Oh, not this again", Hiccup muttered, and motioned for Toothless to fire at them. Twisting around, Toothless shot one plasma blast to the first cloud on his tail and then the one near Hiccup's leg. It wasn't enough, though, as Hiccup heard something from behind. She looked back to see one Smokebreath youngling clamped firmly on Toothless' tail tugging at the exposed connecting rod.
"Nonono, stop!" Hiccup roared, but the youngling only tore at the rod's connection faster before flying off with it.
Toothless roared in surprise at the sudden lack of a working tail fin, quickly falling out of sky, but thinking fast, Hiccup unfastened her shield from Toothless' side and aimed the cap to the tree branch above them. The grappling hook shot out and wrapped itself around the branch stopping them from impact just in time. Hanging like a bat, Hiccup and Toothless each sighed in relief. Crashing was not on the agenda for today. Until the branch snapped. They landed in a heap on the ground, but shook the fall off and quickly got back to their feet.
"Ugh", Hiccup lightly groaned as she brushed herself off and released the grappling hook from the now fallen branch. "What I wouldn't give to have one day where one of us doesn't fall out of the sky."
"And my tail doesn't break", Toothless shook the leaves off himself.
A small smoke cloud flew passed their heads and though she couldn't see it, Hiccup knew. "Follow that rod!" she jumped in the saddle. Toothless ran after the single Smokebreath, quickly catching up to it. "Get me a little closer, bud", Hiccup said, and Toothless did his best. "You want some metal?" she then roared up. "Well, here you go!" Activating the grappling hook again, it wrapped around the youngling. Hiccup then attempted to pull him in, but instead of her pulling the Smokebreath in, the Smokebreath decided to pull Hiccup out. "WHOA!" she yelped, yanked right off the saddle. Hiccup was dragged through the forest, her wings spread keeping her from being dragged on the ground, but there were still low hanging branches and fallen logs. Over and under she either hastily dodged or was dragged through. "Maybe this was a bad idea!" she shakily yelled before being plowed through a bare branch.
Toothless grabbed her boot with his teeth keeping pace with the youngling flying off with his halfling. He planted his feet into the ground to stop them, when the Smokebreath suddenly wiggled free of the rope and hook around his middle and dropped the connecting rod, dropping Hiccup with it. Hiccup rolled to a stop with her shield in hand. When she looked up and saw the connecting rod, she wasted no time in grabbing it.
"Hiccup", Toothless growled lowly.
"What is it, Toothless?" Hiccup came to his side. Looking up to where he was, she saw why Toothless was on edge. "The Smokebreaths' nest", she breathed. It was incredible what such small dragons could do in just a few short days. High up in the bare trees above was the younglings' nest perched between two trees and held up by select thick branches on both sides. It seemed to follow the branches of the two trees in a large semi circle. Hiccup had no doubt they planned on extending it to a closed circle that would be held by a third tree that sat triangular to the two already being used for support, taking them two days at most to complete, but that wasn't gonna happen. Not here, and not with their metal. No, this metal needed to be returned to Berk and the Smokebreaths taken back to their home nest on Breakneck Bog.
"Okay. We need to go back and get all the riders so we can break this apart and get it back to the village." Rushing to Toothless' tail, Hiccup got Toothless' connecting rod back in place and jumped into the saddle. But before they could take off, Aric's voice rang.
"Hiccup!" his voice called before Shadowstar appeared before them. "Thank Thor", they landed. "I finally caught up to you."
"Aric! I-I-I found the Smokebreath nest an-an-and—"
"We don't have time for that now", Aric stopped her excited stuttering. He sounded urgent.
"What do you mean?" Hiccup grew worried.
"We just spotted something on the horizon. Something that may be a bigger problem than the Smokebreaths."
000
With Berk in his sights, Dagur grew more and more excited at the prospect that this visit wouldn't be a peaceful one. Then again, weaponless and outnumbered, maybe they'd surrender before he even got to shore. That wouldn't be very fun, but it did make it easier to get to the fun part of conquest sooner. He couldn't wait.
"Who would have thought those pesky scavengers could bring Berk to its knees", Dagur mulled cheerfully.
"Actually I did", Savage corrected him. "If you recall, it was my idea." Dagur's ax met his neck. Savage winced. "Although, now that I think about it I probably stole it from you", he then wisely and quickly corrected himself. Savage was smart; he didn't always know when to keep his mouth shut, like a certain little hiccup he knew, but unlike her knew when to correct it. It was the only reason Dagur kept him around. That, and he wasn't exactly a bad second.
"With no weapons, and just a handful of dragons, Berk will be no match for the might of Dagur! And his Berserker armada! Pucker up, Hiccup", he said in a sing-song way. "Because you're about to kiss my boots."
000
Spotting the armada through her spyglass, Hiccup sighed with annoyance. "What, is this guy like the king of armadas? Does he go anywhere without one?"
"It's like he knew we were gonna be defenseless", Aric said.
"He did", Hiccup growled. She knew Dagur would come to attack Berk, come to take everything and anything that was hers, but so soon after a Smokebreath invasion coincidentally caused by scrap metal Johann bought from a Berserker recently coming from Breakneck Bog? That was too many coincidences to not have been planned. Dagur planted those dragons knowing exactly what they'd do. And now he was coming to take Berk. A smart plan, but not one she would have expected from Dagur. Cheating, he would have called it if their roles were reversed.
Hiccup and Aric flew back to the square where everyone was already gathering, the sun rising with the promise of a full scale attack.
"Hiccup", her dad said upon their arrival. He stood before a crowd of Berk's warriors, the riders in a group of their own.
"Dad", Hiccup responded dismounting Toothless near her friends across from her father. "Good news, I found the nest. Bad news, Dagur's on his way with a large armada and knows we have no metal and no weapons."
"I know about the armada, Hiccup. If you've found the nest, then you and the other riders go to it and get our weapons", her dad's voice raised with urgency.
"They'll be protecting it by now", Hiccup retorted. "We don't have enough time to fight the Smokebreaths and get back here before Dagur attacks."
"Then I say we head out there and blast those Berserkers with what we got", Snotlout said.
"Even with all our dragons, the seven of us won't be able to take out all those ships alone", Hiccup said.
"Well, if we cut ourselves in half we'd be… TWICE as many!" Tuffnut said.
"Just once", Aric shook his head, "try stopping it between here and here", he pointed to his head and then mouth.
"Nono, he's…actually onto something", Hiccup realized.
"See?!" Tuffnut exclaimed. "I'll get an axe."
"Wha— No! You don't need an axe. We don't need more of us; we need more dragons."
"What are you saying, hun?" her dad asked.
"Why fight against the Smokebreaths when we can fight with them? Everyone!" Hiccup stepped to her people. "Bring any metal you might still have in your houses! It doesn't matter how small it is!"
"You heard my daughter!" her father backed her, and suddenly everyone was scattering to their homes.
As Hiccup got back into Toothless' saddle, Gobber approached. "I gutted my first Outcast with this", he said taking his hook off from his stump. "Take good care of it." Gobber gave her the hook and Hiccup smiled to him grateful.
"Thank you, Gobber. I will", she told her former mentor, and then she and Toothless shot into the sky.
It took some time, but eventually all six dragons of the Dragon Riders had a net filled with metal in their claws. Dragons and riders flew out to the nest carrying the nets with them. As they flew over the nest, Hiccup turned to the twins who were at the back of their formation.
"Ruff, Tuff, sound the dinner bells!" she called to them, and as the twins and Barf and Belch passed over, they clanged their pots and pans.
"Come and get it, smoke-butts!" Ruffnut taunted, throwing the pot she had in one hand down.
"Yeah, smoke-butts! Come and get it, you foggy bottoms!" Tuffnut added.
The Smokebreaths were quick to take their bait. "Okay, there they are", Hiccup said as she spotted them hot on their tails. "We need to pick up the pace. If they get this metal, we're done!" With a quick turnabout, they made their way towards Dagur's armada.
000
Approaching the island ever so slowly, Dagur was growing impatient. They were close enough to Dagur, but not enough to be in range for their catapults, which frustrated him. Why did ships have to be so slow?! Hiccup and her dragon riding buddies should have been here by now anyway. Maybe they were too scared. Dagur liked that thought, Hiccup frightened of him, but the air was too still for Dagur's liking; too quiet. He paced the deck, tired of all this waiting and waiting and waiting.
"Argh, come on already! There should be boot kissing by now!" he screamed, when Savage dropped to the floor and began hastily kissing his boots. Dagur grimaced. "Not you", he literally kicked Savage off. "That's disgusting", he then shook his gross slobber off. 'I hate kiss ups.'
"Just trying to be helpful, sir", Savage gave his excuse, and Dagur let it slide. This time. And only because the waiting game was almost over. Just a little further...and... Dagur giggled. "Its time..."
"Berserkers, prepare to fire!" Savage gave the order.
Catapults were being loaded, Dagur laughing all the while unable to contain his shear excitement. At long last! Then there was the roar of Hiccup's Night Fury. Oh, this day couldn't get any better. Dagur saw her and her Night Fury flying towards his ships, and his smile grew, but then he saw something behind her that made his smile waver.
"What is that?" he questioned leaning over the ship.
"It looks like fog." Dagur punched Savage for the answer. Like he couldn't see that it was fog?
"Sir, we can no longer see the Berk mainland", Captain Vorg reported. "We have no target."
"WHAT?!" Dagur screamed.
Hiccup and her fog tag along reached over his ships, and as the fog descended, Hiccup and her riders positioned themselves over a handful of his ships, Hiccup hovering over his. "Okay, gang! Metal away!" Hiccup shouted, and the nets in their dragons claws opened dropping heaps of whatever onto them. Dagur caught one as metal clanked against wood; a spoon. "Spoons?" he wondered. "They're dropping spoons? Why are they dropping spoons? What does this mean?!" Dagur pulled the spoon close to his eye. "Could this be a spoon of surrender—" Suddenly the spoon was yanked.
"I don't think so, sir", Savage said quietly.
"Oh no."
000
The riders hovering over the ships above the foggy smoke of the Smokebreaths, they couldn't see much of what was going on below. As quickly as they descended onto the ships, the Smokebreaths left, the metal they gathered firmly in their claws to be used for their nest. Dagur's armada still stood by the end of it, seemingly undisturbed save for the missing and broken weapons.
"Hiccup, I thought it was supposed to—" Aric began to worry, when Hiccup stopped him.
"Wait for it…" she drawled, and just then the ships began to creek. The mast on Dagur's flag ship was the first to go, nothing holding it together anymore as it then crashed on the deck. The rest of the ship fell quickly after that, pieces falling apart from each other, and the rest of the armada was quick to follow. It wasn't long before every one of Dagur's ships were in pieces either floating or sinking in the ocean. Dagur himself found refuge on a floating piece of wood, left there with Savage, until Dagur shoved him off, a childish pus on his face. Hiccup decided it was time to go round up the Smokebreaths now, and led the riders back to shore. In the near distance, though, Hiccup could hear Dagur's cries.
"This is not over, Hiccup! You hear me?! YOU JUST WAIT! YOU WILL KISS. THIS. BOOT!"
Hiccup didn't give him the satisfaction of looking back.
000
The morning sun revealing itself through the clouds, Stoick and his front line soldiers walked back up into the village, Hiccup and her riders having dealt with Dagur and his armada for them. Hiccup landed Toothless before them and Stoick walked up to meet her.
"Well done, Hiccup!" Stoick praised her with a cheerful laugh.
"We'll return everyone's metal just as soon as we get the Smokebreaths back to Breakneck Bog", she said.
"And how do you plan on doing that?" he asked, full confidence his girl would have the answer.
"Eh, I think I know someone who should be happy to help us", Hiccup gave in answer, and in the next hour they were sending Johann off in his ship with a large pile of scrap metal. A herd of Smothering Smokebreaths led by Hiccup and Toothless quickly caught up and stopped over the trader's ship, a loud startled scream coming from the boat. Stoick simply chuckled at that. He couldn't have thought of a better arrangement.
000
"But, Miss Hiccup, this can't be the only solution?!" Johann fretted, flinching as the Smokebreath younglings flew over and around his ship. They were a few miles out now from the island of Berk.
"Think of the story you'll have to tell!" Hiccup assured him, her and Toothless planning on following Johann all the way to Breakneck Bog just to keep an eye on the younglings and make sure they didn't completely destroy Johann's ship. "Next stop, Breakneck Bog!"
Whoo! Annnd check another one off the list! Next up, Ohhhh Nooooooo… I hate this one; its so sad! Sigh. But it has to be done I suppose. I already missed Thornado's arrival. I can't miss his departure now can I.