(A/N: In case you missed it, I will be inserting my own chapters in addition to the chapters that coincide with the episodes from the series. That's exactly what I'll be doing with this chapter, this is my own original chapter. I hope everyone enjoys it.)

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The villagers were able to fix Trader Johann's ship within the day it was brought back to Berk. It was sunset by the time he left, he tried to get her to come with him, but she refused. He didn't try to convince her otherwise because Smog was with her and he would be lying if he said that he wasn't a little afraid of the adolescent Smokebreath.

She slept at Astrid's home that night in a downstairs spare room. Smog was able to sleep in the bed with her because of his small size.

It was a difficult night for both of them, both had problems falling asleep. She had slept in her quarters on her father's ship for the majority of her life and it just felt a little odd without the tossing waves rocking her sleep. He had slept in a large nest with others of his kind ever since the day he hatched, the bed was definitely a stretch from the metal that housed and protected him, he felt very exposed and vulnerable.

The next morning, she came out of her room with him following closely behind her. Astrid's mother, Mrs. Hofferson, was pouring some soup into bowls.

She noticed them and smiled, "Good morning, Helene, how did you sleep?"

She rubbed the back of her head, "It's going to take a while to get used to sleeping on land instead of a ship."

She laughed and pointed her ladle at her, "I bet."

She started to stir the soup and Smog just couldn't help but notice that the ladle was made of metal. He watched as the metallic handle spun around in the cauldron.

He made a move for it, but Helene stopped him by placing a hand on his snout. He closed his eyes and stood down, sitting on the table.

Mrs. Hofferson had a hand on her chest and looked very terrified when he tried to make a move for her ladle. She was definitely relieved when she was able to stop him from doing so.

"I'm sorry, it's his instinct to collect anything metallic," she explained his sudden actions.

"Ah, well, that's quite alright," she smiled nervously and reassuringly.

She noticed that Astrid wasn't around and asked, "Where's Astrid? Did she leave already or is she still asleep?"

"Oh, she left about half an hour ago," she answered.

She sat down in a chair and started to eat her breakfast, occasionally pouring a little soup into her dragon's mouth with her spoon. Mrs. Hofferson set a chicken leg she saved from Stormfly's breakfast in front of him, he ate it gleefully.

He finished his breakfast quickly and watched his trainer eat her food. Specifically, he watched as the spoon moved around. He tried to snatch it from her a couple of times, but she was always able to prevent him from taking it.

She was beginning to wonder if he missed the nest he used to live in with his flock back on Breakneck Bog. Most of the dragons on Berk were bigger than him, he probably felt intimidated by them and felt that he needed some type of protection.

She finished her soup and got up from the table. She left the house and he followed her out as she walked towards Gobber's shop.

"Gobber, are you home?" she called out.

"I'm here," he replied as he came down the steps with a box, "what do you need?"

"I was wondering if you could make a nest for Smog," the said dragon squawked when he heard his name. "A scrap metal nest."

"Yeah, I can do that, how big do you want it?" he questioned.

"Not too big," she answered, "he's a small dragon. He's not going to be very much bigger than this when he's full grown."

"Alright then, I'm sure I can get it done by this evening," he told her. "If not tonight, then tomorrow morning."

"Okay," she nodded, "thanks, Gobber."

She started to walk away and waved goodbye to Gobber. Smog flew beside her and nudged her with the side of his face. He was glad that she was having a nest made for him so that he didn't have to worry about the bigger dragons.

She scratched him under his jaw, "You're welcome. Now let's get going, I'm sure the others are waiting for us."

They made their way to the Academy and walked in through the entrance. Not everyone was there yet, Hiccup, Astrid, Fishlegs, and their dragons were there, Snotlout and the twins were not.

Hiccup noticed them and asked her, "Hey, Helene, how did you sleep?"

"Uh, it was different, I haven't slept on land in a while," she responded.

"Yeah, I bet," he laughed.

"If you don't mind me asking, what was in that chest?" she asked.

"It was a toy my Mom made me when I was a baby," he answered. "My Dad said that it's one of two, the one I have is made in the shape of a Deadly Nadder, he says the other is a Hideous Zippleback."

"Oh, that's cool," she commented. "Do you think the other one will ever be found?"

He shrugged, "I don't know, it took over ten years to find the one you and your Dad had."

Smog squawked for a little attention and Astrid gave it to him by patting him on the head. "And how did you sleep last night?"

"I think he slept well, but he misses the nest he used to sleep in, I think he feels vulnerable without a little protection," she told her.

"Well, that makes sense because Smothering Smokebreaths make their nests out of metal for protection against larger dragons," Fishlegs chimed in.

"I asked Gobber to make a nest for him," she mentioned. "He says it should be done by tonight or tomorrow morning."

"What should?" Snotlout asked as he and Hookfang came in through the entrance. The twins and their dragon were behind him.

"Let me guess! Is it something bigger than a stuffed yak?" Tuffnut guessed.

"Or is it smaller than a stuffed yak?" Ruffnut also took a guess.

She crossed her arms, "I asked Gobber to make a nest for Smog."

"Ugh! I was supposed to guess! You weren't supposed to tell me!" he complained.

"Although, for the record, a nest is smaller than a stuffed yak." His twin crossed her arms, "So I'll just mark this as one for Ruffnut."

Hiccup decided to change the topic, "Okay, gang, so what's on the agenda today?"

Tuffnut raised his hand, "Oh! How 'bout we, uh, tie rocks around ourselves and... have our dragons drop us into the ocean!"

His sister was quick to agree, "Yeah! And we'll smear fish blood all over us and have them drop us at night!"

He grinned from ear to ear, "You are a genius!"

They slammed their heads into each other as hard as they could. Fortunately, their helmets prevented any permanent damage.

Hiccup sighed and shook his head, "Oh, gods." Toothless agreed with his rider by letting out a sigh of his own.

Helene dragged a hand down her face and Smog squawked in a way that mimicked her gesture. She sighed and petted her dragon, "I know, boy, you'll learn to get used to it after a while."

"Uh, any other suggestions?" Hiccup asked no one in particular. "Anyone? Anyone at all?"

"Seriously, anyone, please step forward," Fishlegs was practically whimpering.

"How about we work on strengthening our defenses in case of an attack?" Astrid suggested.

Helene decided to chime in right there, she knew how much her friend liked to take their training to the extreme, "I'm just going to stop you right there, Astrid, if it involves switching dragons or anything involving flying on our dragons, you can count me out. Smog is too small to carry me and he can't fly long distances with a lot of weight."

"She does have a point," Fishlegs uttered. "Realistically, Smog won't grow big enough for him to carry her around. Short distances, yes, but that's pretty much it."

"Well, then I guess you'll have to ride around with one of us for the time being," Hiccup told her.

Snotlout let an obnoxious laugh, "Well, isn't that rich? The girl who spends her entire life out at sea can't fly!" Hookfang threw his rider off his saddle and he went flying into a barrel, his feet sticking up, "Hey!"

He did have a point, though, as much as she hated to admit it. She's spent her whole life traveling around to the furthest reaches of the archipelago, she's gone to places they could only dream of, and she's always wondered what it would be like to fly just like her friends. She might have a dragon of her own, but that didn't guarantee flight.

"Well, I suppose we should let her get used to being in the Academy," Astrid told Hiccup.

"In that case, why don't we just go for a ride around Berk so that she can get used to being in the sky?" he suggested. "What do you say, Helene?"

She shrugged, "Why not? It might be fun."

"And I think I know a way how we can sneak in a simple exercise while we're at it," Fishlegs added.

"How?" she inquired.

"There are dragon traps left all over the island," he mentioned, "I think this'll be a great opportunity for you to learn how to free dragons."

Hiccup grinned, "Great idea, Fishlegs, what say you, Helene?"

She thought about it for a moment, "Okay, let's go."

Astrid smiled, "You can ride with me and Stormfly."

She smiled back at her, "Sounds good."

All seven of them were soaring above the forest with their dragons in a wide 'V' formation. Helene was glad they agreed to just do a simple exercise that day instead of a training mission, if she was going to stay on Berk, she needed to get as much practice as possible without the capability to fly on her own dragon.

She hoped that she could one day fly through the sky like her friends could. Until then, she would settle for riding with them on the backs of their dragons with her dragon flying right beside her.

Hiccup pulled back on the peddle so that Toothless was flying parallel to Stormfly. "Helene, since this is your first exercise, we'll be showing you how to help trapped dragons."

"Sounds like a plan," she responded.

They landed in a clearing and started to step up traps. The sharp points of the traps were dulled so as to not hurt the dragons or hurt anyone foolish enough to get trapped in them.

Hiccup led Toothless to one of the traps and carefully set it onto his wing. While he didn't like the idea of having a dragon ensnaring trap on his wing, he was willing to help Helene get comfortable with the idea of helping dragons in distress every now and then.

Hiccup began to walk her through it, "Now, the first thing you want to do is show that you're not a threat."

She nodded, "Got it."

"I would start by talking to him, soothe him with your voice," he told her. He gave his dragon a two fingered gesture and a simple command, "Toothless." He responded by going from docile to hostile.

She played along with this exercise by approaching him cautiously. He growled at her when she got close to him, Smog growled at him as a result and flew over to protect his trainer.

She held an arm out to stop him, "Relax, remember, this is just an exercise, I'm not in any danger right now."

He stood down and flew back to the others to wait for the exercise to end. He still stayed in the air in case she needed him or he felt she needed him.

Toothless growled at her again as she carefully made her way to his wing. She began to talk to him in a soft, quiet, pleasant voice, "It's okay, it's okay, I'm not going to hurt you, I promise."

He stopped growling at her when her voice hit his ears. Although this was probably just part of the exercise.

She bent down to begin taking the trap off of his wing. Snotlout took this opportunity to discreetly glance at her form. This was noticed by Astrid and she elbowed him in the face.

She carefully unlatched the trap from his wing, releasing it. He raised his wing to look at it and gave her his own version of a smile. She simply smiled proudly and tossed the trap away.

He turned to her and nuzzled her gratefully while purring. She laughed and placed a hand on top of his head, he closed his eyes.

She smiled softly, "You're welcome, Toothless."

"That was amazing, your first try and you were able to successfully free Toothless without incident," Hiccup smiled.

Astrid crossed her arms, "Impressive."

"Yeah, it took Snotlout ten times before he finally got it right," Tuffnut remarked.

"And you and Ruff fifteen," Fishlegs sighed.

"What's next?" Helene asked.

"I guess we'll just go for a fly," Hiccup shrugged. "That quick training session was a last minute decision."

"Is it alright if I fly with you and Toothless for this?" she asked. "I just want to know what it's like to fly on the back of the fastest dragon while on a casual flight."

"Okay," he nodded, "sure. Why not?"

He got onto his dragon's back and set his foot into the peddle. She sat behind him on the saddle once his foot was where it needed to be.

Once his tail was extended, all it took was the flap of Toothless' wings and they were flying. The others followed closely afterwards on their dragons.

Once they were high in the air, she looked around her and was amazed by the late-morning sky and how it seemed to compliment the ocean below them. She has seen this sight plenty of times, but from the opposite perspective. This was a truly magnificent sight to see.

The air was so crisp and refreshing, again, something she was very with, but it was different while in the air itself rather than on the sea or ground. This feeling tingled her body and danced on her skin.

Then, she spotted something unusual in the waters below. They were flying over the sea stacks and she saw a ship hidden, just barely in sight.

At first, she thought it was her father's ship, which caused her entire body to go cold with fear, as if she was frozen. She felt like she could fall off Toothless at any second.

But how? How could he still be there? She saw him leave the other day! And how could he have known where they would be that day when even she didn't know she would be flying on her first day with them?!

Smog sensed her fear and stress and flew closer to her. He nuzzled her in the side of her face with the side of his and purred reassuringly.

She smiled and patted him on the back, "Thanks, Smog."

She then tapped Hiccup on the shoulder before they got too far out of the range of the ship, "Hiccup, there's a ship in the sea stacks. I'm not sure if it's one of yours."

He looked back and could just barely make out the stern of the said ship, "I see it, good eye, Helene. And, by the way, it's not just 'ours' anymore, it's yours now too." She smiled when she heard that.

He directed Toothless around and the other riders followed suit, although weren't sure why. Once they got closer to the ship, they could tell that it wasn't one of theirs or even Johann's ship, it was the signature crudely constructed ship of the Outcast Tribe, Berk's sworn enemies.

While Helene was glad that it wasn't her father, an Outcast ship wasn't much better. She doesn't know much about them despite the fact that she has been to their island plenty of times. All she knew was that the average soldier only had a quarter of the might and strength of their leader, Alvin the Treacherous, whom she's never seen, but has heard his menacing voice countless times.

"Is that what I think it is?" Fishlegs fearfully asked no one in particular, biting his nails.

"What's an Outcast ship doing here?" Astrid questioned.

"What I want to know is why they're here," Hiccup uttered. He pointed at one of the sea stacks, "Land there."

They landed on top of it, the dragons perching on the edge as their riders looked down at the ship. They watched as the Outcasts hulled a young Scauldron caught in their nets onto their deck.

"That's strange, why would they come way out here to catch a Scauldron?" Fishlegs inquired.

Snotlout jeered, "Maybe they hunted their waters dry."

"No matter why they're here, we have to save that dragon," Helene asseverated.

"I agree, but if that Scauldron sees us he might freak out," Hiccup conveyed, "they're naturally territorial towards other dragons. We can't risk it harming us or itself."

She frowned when he said that and she wasn't going to argue with him, he knew just as much about dragons as she did about all things nautical. As much as she wanted to go down there herself and help the Scauldron, she couldn't.

She then looked over at her dragon and saw the small puffs of smoke coming from his mouth in anger. That gave her an idea.

"Hiccup, I have an idea," she told him.

She told him her plan, it was risky, but risks were an occupational hazard in everything they do. With slight reluctance, he decided to give her plan a try, she prayed to the gods it would work.

"I hope this works," he muttered, primarily to himself.

'Me too,' she thought. "Smog," she got her dragon's attention. She pointed down at the ship, "Smoke screen."

He obeyed the command and flew down towards the Outcasts below. He circled around the perimeter of the ship, letting out a bellow of smoke just as they hulled the Scauldron onto the deck.

"Alright, let's go down there," Hiccup told everyone once the smoke completely covered the ship.

They flew down and Toothless landed on the deck so his riders could get off. The other dragons remained in the air to fire down at the ship.

"Okay, Helene, you try to keep the Scauldron distracted while I free him," he told her. She nodded.

She took in a breath and started to softly talk to the stressed dragon, "I'm okay, boy, weren't not here to hurt you."

Hiccup began to take the net off of his body by pulling it from the side. The Scauldron growled at him and his jaw began to fill with water.

"Relax, boy, relax, everything will be alright. We will free you and no one will ever come after you ever again," she soothed. Her voice sounded like gentle bell chimes when she spoke.

It was enough to calm down the Scauldron, the water left his mouth and went back down his throat. This gave Hiccup the opportunity to remove the net and thus freeing the young dragon.

The dragon lifted his head and looked at both sides of his body, the net really was gone! He growled happily and perched on the wall of the ship for a moment to look back at the young woman who helped him get through that distressing moment before he jumped into the water and swam away. She smiled knowing that he was safe and back where he belongs.

They went back to the Academy, it was sunset by the time they got back. Helene rode back on Toothless with Hiccup again. She got off his back and her dragon came up to her.

"Great job out there, Helene," Hiccup praised.

"Yeah," Astrid agreed, "you did really good out there. Congrats on saving the Scauldron."

She smiled, "Thanks, guys. I never thought I'd be able to free a dragon in distress like that."

Astrid looked up at the orange sky, "Hey, we better get home soon, before it gets dark."

"Okay," she replied, "I have to stop by Gobber's shop to see if he's done with Smog's nest."

"Alright, then. Want a ride?" she offered, pointing her thumb back at Stormfly.

"No, I'm alright," she declined, "I'll just walk."

She nodded, "Okay, see you at home."

She walked out the Academy with her dragon flying right beside her. It was a short walk to the village from the former killing arena-turned-training school.

She walked up to Gobber's shop, he was hammering a sheet of metal. "Gobber."

He looked up from his project, "Hello, Helene, come by to check on the nest?"

"Yep, is it ready yet?" she asked.

He pulled a blanket off of an object sitting on his counter. "Here it is. What do you think?"

When he removed the blanket, in its wake revealed a metal object shaped like a bird's nest. It was crudely constructed with countless pieces of scrap metal welded together with hardened iron.

Smog squealed in delight when he saw the handmade nest and happily went to it. He laid down on it and looked at his trainer with his own version of a smile.

She laughed when she saw how happy he was, "I think he likes it." She then turned to Gobber, "Thanks for taking the time to make it."

He waved his hand, "No problem. Need help carrying it?"

"No, Smog should be able to take care of that," she responded.

As if on cue, he took his new nest in his mouth and flew away. She laughed again at his actions.

"I better get going." She began to walk away and waved goodbye as she did, "See you later."

She walked to the Hofferson household and went inside. She saw her dragon hovering in front of her door, he couldn't get in on his own.

She shook her head with a smile and opened it for him. He went inside and put his nest on a small table next to her bed. He sat down in it and squawked at her.

"I guess you have the right idea." She walked up to the bed and sat down, "We did have a busy day today, didn't we?"

She took off her boots and set them next to each other in front of the leg of the bed. She laid down on her bed, resting her head on the pillow.

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(A/N: I very much hope that everyone enjoyed reading this chapter as much I liked writing it. I know that not a lot happened in this, but I think I did a good job with it. This type of chapter is what I call a "bridge chapter", meaning it connects to others chapters like it as well as the ones that correspond to the series.

The next couple of chapters are going to be on the two-part episodes "Heather Report". The "Heather Report" episodes are a couple of my favorites from "Riders of Berk", so hopefully they'll come out good.)