(A/N: This is it, chapter sixteen. For those of you who haven't been paying much attention, this is a very important chapter in this story. Why? Well, you'll just have to read it, won't you?

This also means it's your last chance to vote on the poll, I want you guys to think long and hard about it, going back and analyze my OC with a fine-tooth comb if you have to. No more after this, I'm sorry, but I gave everyone more than enough chances to do something about it. If you did nothing, not my fault or my problem, that's all I can say.

For the people who missed it at the end of the last chapter, this takes place in the episode "Smoke Gets in Your Eyes". This is a personal favorite and it (along with the episode "Breakneck Bog") is the reason why I gave Helene Smog to be her dragon. He's an amazing dragon and I have a feeling I'm going to cry a lot while writing.)

X-o-X*~*0*~*X-o-X

It's been just over two months since Smokey hatched and since then the Smoke Terror had been growing like a weed. He was flying by the time he was a month old, but he wasn't very big when it came to size. In fact, it wasn't until recently that he had grown even the slightest at all, but that just meant that his family, Helene included, could enjoy his tiny size just a little longer. Babies grow up so fast.

Now, however, he was nearly as tall as his mother and just a few inches shorter than his father from snout to tail. He wasn't yet large enough to be considered an adolescent, but he was getting closer by the day.

It wasn't just his size that was changing either, but his personality was beginning to develop as well. He was very loyal like both of his parents, but seemed to be developing a mischievous side just like his father, and also had a somewhat empathic side to him as well, which he probably got from his mother.

He loves to be outside and playing with his parents and other dragons, especially the other baby dragons. He also likes to practice his offense and defense with Astrid and Helene, the latter of whom he saw as almost a second mother.

He likes to be around the other Dragon Riders too, except for Snotlout, he still remembers what he did to him. Their dragons treated him in the same way they would treat their own offspring, they even taught him a thing or two on occasion, they became like his family too.

He met Helene's only family member, her father, Trader Johann, once and instantly hated him; he could feel pure evil within him. He shot a fireball at him when he tried to touch him, but Toothless protected him with his wing and his parents disciplined him afterwards. He wasn't sure why no other dragon seemed able to sense it, but he wasn't large enough or old enough to do anything about it.

He could tell that Johann had some kind of control and authority over Helene, he saw her flinch when he touched her shoulder. He had some sort of dominance over his daughter, she's too afraid to confidently stand up for herself.

Then again, he saw the same thing with Hiccup and his father, same with Snotlout and his father, too. Perhaps superiority and dominance over their children was common with humans? He didn't know, he was a dragon with dragon parents, maybe humans were just different.

Recently, he's begun to feel this longing or need to travel to new places. Perhaps this is just curiosity, or it could have something to do with his newly found capability of flying at higher altitudes than he had ever been able to do before. He was getting older and stronger, this was to be expected now that he was nearing adolescence.

He tried a couple of times, but it caused his parents to have panic attacks. They flew after him at top speed and had to use their claws to restrain him as they took him back to the village. They don't allow him to travel further than the Academy without them. However, all of that may soon change for better or worse, from a certain point of view.

The villagers were waiting at the docks for Johann to dock his ship. All of the riders had their dragons with them, even Helene had Smog with her; Twirl and Smokey were back at home.

"Trader Johann's here, everybody! Trader Johann's here!" Fishlegs squealed excitedly.

"Johann, Shmohann," Snotlout snorted. "That guy never lets me touch any of his cool stuff."

"Well, that's because last time he was here you broke half of it," Helene pointed out.

He scoffed, "It's my word against his!" She just rolled her eyes.

"Ah, Berk! The crown jewel of the entire archipelago!" Johann declared.

"Over here, Trader Johann! What did you bring today?" Fishlegs enthusiastically asked.

He chuckled, "Many wondrous things, Mr. Fishlegs. Treasures from every coast and every shore." He held up a pair of pearl earrings, "Like the Pearls of Dyngja. Perfect for that special lady in your life."

"Those could be yours, Astrid. Just say the word," Snotlout told her smugly.

She crossed her arms and walked away, "Yuck!"

"That's not the word!" he protested. He then muttered to Helene, "What about you, Helene? What do you say?"

"Get a life, Snotlout," she retorted as she started walking away.

Johann stopped her from going too far, he grabbed onto her arm. It wasn't rough, but she still froze as bad memories began to flood her mind.

He pulled her into a hug, she did not return it because she felt as if she may be paralyzed. "Helene! How are you, my dear girl?"

She finally gained the strength to break out his embrace by pushing him away. It wasn't until then when she gave him a response, "Uh, I- I'm fine, D-Dad. How- How are you?"

"I've been well, but the ship is so lonely without the company of my beloved daughter!" He hugged her again.

She waited until he was done before she backed away from him, "Sorry, Dad, but I don't plan on coming back anytime soon."

Gobber was looking around at some of Johann's stuff, but nothing seemed to impress him, "Hmm… nope, nope."

"Ah, Mr. Gobber! What can I interest you in?" he asked.

"Why don't you wow me, Johann?" he suggested. "Knock me off my feet."

"Put me to the test? Okay," he chuckled.

Before he could give him any options, something caught Gobber's eye, "Hang on." He went over to something that was covered by a tarp. "What's under here?"

He scratched the back of his head, "Oh, nothing too exciting. Just an old pile of-"

"Scrap metal!" Gobber beamed when he removed the tarp and saw what was underneath. "It's perfect. I've run out of things to pound around here."

"Whoa! It's the most beautiful thing I've ever seen!" Tuffnut sounded like he was close to tears.

"It's just scrap metal," Astrid crossed her arms.

"No, I'm talking about this mace!" He ran with a big grin towards the mace he was referring to. He picked it up and could see his own reflection in the shiny metal, "Hey, mace, you wanna come home with me, don't you?" He started talking in a feminine voice, "Yes, I do, Tuffnut! I want to needlessly destroy other people's property with you." He talked in his natural voice again as he brought the mace to his face, "Oh, Macey! You get me?"

Helene and Astrid watched as he did this and both rolled their eyes. Helene made a swirling motion with her index finger near the side of her head, Astrid nodded in agreement.

Gobber observed the pile of metal, which Johann took notice of. "I see you are a gentleman who recognizes quality when he sees it. This is the finest metal from the furthest reaches of the archipelago!"

He decides to test the quality by biting into a broken sword. "Huh. I'll take it all!"

"Excellent!" Johann jumped slightly in excitement. "Always a pleasure, Mr. Gobber."

'What are you planning, Dad?' Helene mentally asked with a cold and suspicious look in her eye.

Smog noticed how Toothless was growling when he went up to the metal and decided to check it out for himself. He stood on his hind legs and sniffed the metal, he growled at it just as Toothless did. Although his growl was different, Toothless' was more a warning than anything else, his was more like a threat to potential invaders.

Then, there was a sudden crashing sound on the deck. Johann looked and gasped when he saw Snotlout surrounded by broken plates.

"Wasn't me." Snotlout casually walked away.

"I really hate that kid," Johann grumbled.

'Finally something we agree on," his daughter thought.

Gobber tried to lift the scrap metal he just bought, but it was too heavy. He saw Hiccup as he was about to mount Toothless and asked, "Hiccup, think you can spare a hook, son?"

"Not a problem, Gobber," he replied. "Hey, guys."

Tuffnut and Ruffnut mounted Barf and Belch as he held up his new mace he dubbed 'Macey', "Let's do this, Macey."

Snotlout snickered as he mounted Hookfang, then Gobber pulled him off, "Not so fast, you. I paid good money for this scrap, I'll not have you dropping it into the ocean."

The twins, Fishlegs, and Astrid carried the metal to Gobber's workshop with their dragons. As they carried it off, Toothless and Smog continued to growl at it from Johann's ship, both had slitted eyes that glowed with hostility.

Hiccup was standing on the dock when he called out to his dragon, "Toothless." The said dragon warbled and jumped down from the ship.

"Come on, Smog, let's go," Helene told her dragon. "Twirl and Smokey are waiting at home."

He looked up at her and followed her as they walked down the gangplank together and onto the docks. Johann watched with contempt and a dark look in his eyes as his daughter and her dragon walked away.

'I must take that little bitch away from her accursed friends and damn dragons!' he thought scathingly with tightly clenched fists.

The next morning, Astrid, Helene, and her dragons were awakened by a sound crashing sound coming from the dining room. Astrid came running down from her room while Helene ran out of hers, they found Mrs. Hofferson frantically looking for something.

"Mom, what's wrong?" Astrid asked.

"I can't find any of my ladles to make breakfast," she answered as she threw a crate, which Helene had to take a step to the side to avoid.

"Why not just ask a neighbor if you can borrow one?" her daughter asked again.

"That's just the thing, everyone had something stolen last night," she informed them.

Both girls looked at each other with surprised expressions. They went outside and discovered that everyone was talking about the items stolen from them.

They saw the other riders standing in the middle of town and joined them. They talked about what could have happened, Tuffnut on the other hand was too upset to talk as he cried on his knees. Just a few minutes later Hiccup walked up with Toothless.

"What is going on here?" he inquired.

"Bunch of stuff got stolen from the village last night," Snotlout replied, although he could care less.

"Yup, and some of us are taking it pretty hard," Astrid crossed her arms and looked at Tuffnut, who was still on his knees.

"Oh! Macey! Macey! Oh, golly, she's gone! No!" he shouted at the top of his lungs. He then pointed at Ruffnut, "You! You were always jealous of her, you knew I loved her more because I told you every so often! And I wrote it in your room on the wall!"

Stoick came up to them and informed his son of the situation, "We have quite the situation on our hands. Axes, shields, helmets, drinking goblets, all stolen."

"Axes, shields, helmets, drinking goblets, what do all those things have in common?" Hiccup questioned.

"Obviously, duh," Snotlout knocked on his helmet, "they're all gone."

"No, they're metal," he surmised. "Everything that's missing is metal."

"Hiccup, everything we own is metal," Helene pointed out with her arms crossed.

"It's- it's a theory," he replied. "Work with me."

"Whatever's going on, I need to find whoever is responsible before this panic gets any worse," Stoick told his son.

As if on cue, Gobber came up to Stoick, "Stoick, Bucket and Mulch are slapping each other with sturgeons!"

He looked and saw that they were slapping each other with sturgeons. "What happened to their bludgeons?"

"Stolen," he responded. "Hence the sturgeon."

"In some ways I guess that's probably better," he muttered.

"Uh, Dad, why don't you take care of the sturgeon slapping while Astrid, Helene and I do a little investigating," Hiccup uttered.

"Investigating?" Helene repeated.

"What exactly are you planning, Hiccup?" Astrid asked.

"To return to the scenes of the crimes and see if we can find out something about this metal thief," he expounded.

After a full day of knocking on doors and asking questions, they were no closer to identifying the perpetrator than when they started. They all went home after leaving the twins' house, Tuffnut was really taking this whole thing pretty hard, he even set up a shrine to his mace.

While they thought it was most likely either some kids playing a prank or a dragon, they had no proof for either one. No evidence of any kind was found at any of the crime scenes. Although, Helene couldn't help but notice that no matter where they went, Smog wouldn't stop growling whenever they were the locations of where the items were before they were stolen.

During the night, Helene was awakened at one point by Smog growling again, he sensed something and that was causing him to be hostile and territorial. She assured him that there was nothing coming before she went back to sleep. He eventually did as well, but he couldn't stop worrying about whatever it was he sensed.

By morning, the thief had struck again. This time, the Dragon Riders had something stolen from them. Astrid was missing her shoulder pads and Snotlout, Fishlegs, and the twins were all missing their helmets, Helene had nothing stolen from her.

Fishlegs sighed, "The thief hit you guys too, huh?"

"I feel naked without my helmet," Snotlout groaned.

"Me too," Tuffnut commented, "but I made a sketch of the thief. It came to me in a dream. You see, my subconscious is working overtime, like a sports team that just can't win." He showed them the sketch he made, and it looked an awful lot like him.

"Um, Tuffnut, that's you," Astrid pointed out.

"No, it's not," he replied, shaking his head.

"Uh, yes, it is," Fishlegs told him.

"No, it isn't. I think I would know myself if I-" he looked at the sketch for himself and saw that he had indeed drawn himself. "Huh, I guess it is."

Hiccup landed nearby and got off Toothless to inform them, "Hey, guys, I know who the thief is. Or should I say I know who our thieves are. Adolescent Smokebreath dragons."

Fishlegs hit his forehead in realization, "Of course! Smokebreaths steal metal to build their nests."

"Which explains why Smog was growling at every scene we went to yesterday and last night, he must have known that there were other Smokebreaths nearby," Helene surmised.

"But why would Smokebreaths be on Berk?" Stoick asked.

"Chief, coming in for the big win!" Fishlegs praised him for catching that detail. "Smothering Smokebreaths don't normally stray far from their home on Breakneck Bog."

"That's the part I'm still unclear about," Hiccup muttered.

"I've been robbed!" Gobber yelled. "The thief evaded my booby traps and took all the metal I bought from Trader Johann! Left me with nary a scrap of… eh, scrap!"

"Dad, I think I might know how the Smokebreaths got here. Helene, is your Dad still on Berk?" Hiccup asked her.

She nodded, "Yeah, he is. He's waiting for a bushel of carrots from someone."

"He should be in the Great Hall," his father pointed at the said building.

He nodded, "Let's go talking to him." He turned to the other riders, "We'll meet at the Academy after my Dad and I are done talking with Johann."

After talking with Johann in the Great Hall and asking him about the metal he sold, he revealed that he got it from a Berserker who had been to Breakneck Bog, Hiccup, his father, and Gobber assessed the situation, there was almost no metal left in the village. Afterwards, he and Toothless went to the Academy to inform the others of the situation.

Hiccup paced as he held his chin, "We have to find that missing metal, especially the weapons."

"Macey must be so cold and scared out there. It's hard out there for a mace," Tuffnut's voice was slightly shaky and anxious. "Oh, Macey."

"Maybe the Smokebreaths took the metal back to Breakneck Bog," Astrid put forward.

"That seems unlikely. Remember? Smothering Smokebreaths can't fly long distances carrying a lot of weight," Helene reminded her.

"Hey, Snotlout, how'd you get your helmet back?" Ruffnut asked when she noticed he was wearing a helmet.

He chuckled, "It's my spare. A real warrior is never without his helmet."

Astrid scoffed, "Can't say the same for his brain."

"What is it with today? You are so up my-" Snotlout was cut off when Stormfly shot a spine at his helmet, causing it to spin on his head. "Hey!"

Hiccup rolled his eyes, "Snotlout, come on, please focus."

"Oh, come on, really?" he retorted. Stormfly shot another spine at his helmet.

"If the Smokebreaths didn't take the metal back to Breakneck Bog, they must have started building a nest somewhere here on Berk," Hiccup declared.

"Awesome!" Tuffnut exclaimed. Everyone looked at him questionably and in disbelief, even Smog gave him a glare. "Not awesome?"

"Definitely not awesome," Helene replied with crossed arms.

"Hiccup, how are we going to find them?" Astrid asked. "They could be anywhere."

"Well, there's only one way to stop a metal thief and that's-" he began before Tuffnut interjected.

"Wait, don't tell me. With a net! No, no, no, with a rope! No? Okay. Oh, oh, don't say it. With a ropey net!" he finally finished.

"I was just going to say with metal," he deadpanned.

"Oh! It was on the tip of my tongue. Stupid tongue." He stuck his tongue out at his sister, "Flick it. Come on, flick it." She happily complied with his wishes and flicked it. "Ow! Oh, yeah."

Hiccup got back on topic, "So we need to gather all the metal from the arena and bait a trap the Smokebreaths won't be able to resist. We'll lure them in, let them take the metal, and follow them back to the nest and all our missing weapons."

"You did say all the metal, right, Hiccup?" Astrid asked mischievously, looking at Snotlout.

He was whistling while polishing his helmet when he noticed her looking at him, "What?" He looked up at his helmet and knew what she was thinking, "Oh, you've got to be kidding me. What about his leg? That's made of metal."

"Snotlout!" Hiccup gaped at what he was suggesting.

"All I'm saying is fair is fair," he murmured.

The riders gathered together every piece of metal they could find in the Academy and took it to the middle of town when night fell. It was put into a stack and placed conspicuously, so that it would be readily noticed by the Smothering Smokebreaths when they came.

Astrid added on the final touch to the pile, Snotlout's helmet. She quickly ran back to where the others were and hid.

"I still think we should have flipped a yak pie for it," Snotlout groaned.

Helene rolled her eyes, 'Really?'

Her three dragons were with her on this mission. They wanted to be there to help stop these rogue Smokebreaths, especially if she was going to be there.

Hiccup hushed everyone, "It looks like they've taken the bait."

A fog rolled in, completely obstructed the metal from view. The clanking sounds of the Smothering Smokebreaths taking the metal apart could be heard.

"Okay, very important, no one do absolutely anything until I give the signal," he told them.

"Get 'em!" Ruffnut and Tuffnut shouted in unison as they fired at the Smokebreaths, chasing them away.

"Yet another plan perfectly executed," he deadpanned sarcastically. "Dragons, everyone!"

The other riders got onto their respective dragons, Helene was on Toothless with Hiccup. Once the smoke from the twins' ambush cleared, they could see where the rogue dragons were headed.

Hiccup pointed out where they were going, "Look, there they go. Follow them!"

They flew after them and followed the Smothering Smokebreaths to the forest. The forest must have been where their nest was, it made sense because it's isolated from the village and therefore humans. The perfect place for it to be realistically.

Just as it seemed they were about to catch up to them, the signal smoke cloud split into two. Tricky dragons, Helene would know that better than everyone else.

"Split up!" Helene called out to everyone.

She and Hiccup continued to head straight with their dragons while the others went off in their own directions. It wasn't long before they spotted one of the smoke clouds.

Hiccup tapped on Toothless and pointed down at it, "There!"

They flew down towards it, but then it cleared as the Smokebreaths separated. They reappeared behind them as another cloud surrounded them, closing in on his metal leg.

"Oh, not this again," he groaned.

All four dragons tried to shake off the dragons in order to keep Toothless and the two riders in the air. They eventually managed to do so, but one of them got away with the rod needed to secure Toothless' tailfin.

The three of them were falling right out of the sky with Helene's three dragons trying to their best to save them. Just as it seemed they were about to hit the ground, Hiccup launched his grapple at a tree branch, suspending the three just a few feet above the ground. The rope snapped due to their combined weight, but it was a short fall, they were fine.

Her dragons arrived as she and Hiccup stood up from the ground. They were all worried and started to squawk, chirp, and warble, Toothless responded with similar sounds.

"We're fine, don't worry," she assured them. She pointed in the direction the Smokebreaths were headed, "Go after Toothless' rod."

They obeyed her, albeit somewhat reluctantly, and went off in the direction of the Smothering Smokebreaths. She and Hiccup got back on Toothless and followed them, hoping they would be led to the nest.

Smog managed to catch up to them and took the rod in his mouth, but he quickly discovered the younger Smokebreath would not be giving it up easily. It fought him for it, hitting him with its tail and clawing at him.

It eventually let go of it and flew upwards to join the rest of its flock. He had to stop himself from flying into the truck of a tree and waited for the others to catch up with him.

Toothless came leaping over a shrub with the two riders on his back and Smog's mate and offspring not far behind him. He gave the rod back to Hiccup by spitting out into his hand.

"Thanks." Hiccup got off Toothless and started to reattach the rod.

Helene looked up, she could see something but couldn't make out any details. "Can you give us some light?" she asked her dragons.

Her dragons all opened their mouths and emitted a low flame from the back of their throats. Toothless shot up a plasma blast for some additional light to help her and his rider see better.

All of that combined was enough for her to see what was above her. And she was in absolute shock.

"Hiccup," she uttered, reaching back to him to get his attention.

"Yeah?" he replied after he put the rod back in place.

He looked up as well and he was just as shocked as she was to see what he saw in the tree. Up in the tree was the nest the Smothering Smokebreaths built out of the metal they stole from the village.

She gasped, "The Smokebreaths' nest." By the gods it was larger than the one Smog built in the corner of her bedroom!

Smog squawked and growled, obviously a little bit jealous by the size of it. He was only one, lone Smothering Smokebreath for crying out loud! He couldn't possibly make that on his own even if he tried!

He got back on Toothless' back, "We need to go back and get all the riders, so we can break this apart and get it back to the village."

"Hiccup! Helene!" They could hear Astrid's voice calling out to them as she appeared, finally catching up to them. "Thank Thor, I finally caught up to you!"

"Astrid, we found the Smokebreaths' nest and-" he began before she cut him off.

"We don't have time for that now," she stated.

"What do you mean?" Helene asked.

"We just spotted something on the horizon," she informed them. "Something that may be a bigger problem than the Smokebreaths."

Both their eyes went wide when they heard her say that. What could be worse than the Smothering Smokebreaths? She couldn't mean… no, it couldn't be, could it?

Helene looked at Hiccup, "You don't think… do you?"

His brows furrowed, "I do." He looked up at Astrid, "It's Dagur, isn't it?" She nodded.

Helene got onto Toothless, wrapping one arm around Hiccup and using the other hand to hold on to the saddle. They took off with Astrid and Stormfly with Helene's three dragons following. While Twirl and Smokey left immediately, Smog stayed for a second to look up at the nest, remembering vividly and fondly what it was like to be their age.

Hiccup, Astrid, and Helene stood on the docks with their dragons beside them. He was looking through a spyglass at the ships nearing the mainland. The symbol on the sails was unmistakable, it was Dagur and his Berserkers.

"What is this guy, like, the king of armadas?" he remarked sarcastically. "Does he go anywhere without one?"

"It's like he knew we were going to be defenseless," Astrid commented suspiciously.

"He did," he stated.

They ran back to the middle of town where everyone else was. It was time everyone knew exactly what was going on.

"Trader Johann said he bought the scrap metal from a Berserker," he began.

"And it was from Breakneck Bog," Astrid added.

"Dagur planted those dragons, he knew what they would do," Helene finished.

"Hiccup, you found the Smokebreath nest, you and the other riders go to it and get our weapons," Stoick told him.

"They'll be protecting it by now," he replied. "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've got," Snotlout slammed his fist in his palm.

"Even with our dragons, the seven of us won't be able to take out those ships alone," he averred.

"Well, if we cut ourselves in half, we'd be… twice as many!" Tuffnut held up two fingers.

"Just once, try stopping it between here," Astrid pointed at her head, "and here," she pointed at her mouth.

An idea began to form in Hiccup's head, "No, he's actually onto something."

"See?" he smiled. "I'll get an axe!"

"What? No. We don't need more of us, we need more dragons," he declared.

"What are you saying, son?" Stoick asked.

"Why fight against the Smokebreaths when we can fight with them?" he articulated.

Helene smiled when he said that, she could have burst into tears of joy. Smothering Smokebreaths might be on the small side, but Smog was proof that they can be helpful and that they were loyal to a fault. Now, it was time for them to have the spotlight.

"Everyone, bring any metal you might still have in your houses. It doesn't matter how small it is," she told the villagers.

Stoick looked at his people, "You heard her." They all ran off to their homes to find any type of metal.

Gobber detached his hook and gave it to Hiccup, "I gutted my first Outcast with this, take good care of it."

"Thank you, Gobber, I will," he replied.

The villagers brought all the metal they could find to them. Using nets, the riders lifted the metal and took it to the Smokebreaths' nest.

"Ruff, Tuff, sound the dinner bell!" Hiccup told them.

"Don't have to tell us twice," Tuffnut snickered as he and Ruffnut held up pots and pans.

They started to clang them, as abrasively as they could. The adolescent Smothering Smokebreaths heard this and growled.

"Come and get it, smokebutts!" Ruffnut jeered.

"Yeah, smokebutts!" Tuffnut did the same. "Come and get it, you foggy bottoms!"

They threw their pots and pans down at them, hoping to rile them up, but that's not what happened. Instead of flying up with the intention of attacking them, they just stayed in their nest.

"Uh, what are they doing? Why aren't they coming after us?" Fishlegs asked, almost appalled by what he was saying.

"They must remember the trap we set up earlier," Hiccup surmised.

"Those are some smart dragons," Tuffnut remarked.

Snotlout scoffed, "So we did all this for nothing? Great plan, Hiccup."

"We need to find another way to get them to follow us," he states.

Astrid looked in the direction of the village, "We better figure it out, Dagur and his armada are going to be here any minute now!"

If the riders were in any way impacted by this statement, they weren't showing it. The same could not be said for Smog, who was panicking on the inside and frantic on the outside.

The thought of losing his mate, his offspring, his best friend and rider was too much for him to bear. He could feel anxiety, sorrow, and anger building up inside of him all at once, just waiting to explode. Which was exactly what happened.

He roared at the top of his lungs, louder than ever before, startling everyone. The Smothering Smokebreaths in the nest below heard this and flew up towards him.

"Incoming Smokebreaths at six o'clock!" Tuffnut yelled.

They surrounded them, but they didn't attack them at all. It was strange, what were they doing? What was happening?

Helene had a hunch and wondered if she was right. "Smog," she called out to her dragon, which caught his attention. She pointed upwards.

Smog understood this and did as he was told, he flew upwards. To everyone's surprise, her theory was proven correct, the Smokebreaths followed him, surrounding him.

"What the hell is going on?" Snotlout nearly shrieked.

"These Smokebreaths are adolescents, when he roared it must have caused them to see him as their Alpha," Fishlegs concluded.

Hiccup looked back at Helene, "We need to get them to follow us. Have Smog lead them to Dagur's fleet."

"Smog, have them follow us!" she called out to her dragon.

The riders began to fly towards the Berserker ships with Twirl and Smokey flying with them, albeit reluctantly because it was hard to leave him behind. Smog flew after them with the Smokebreaths following him in a swarm.

He led them to Dagur's fleet, the riders dropped the metal from the village down on them, confusing the Berserkers. He looked back at the younger dragons and squawked before flying downward, towards the ships.

A smoke cloud engulfed the ships, hiding them, giving them the perfect opportunity to strike. He squawked again, they got the message and started to take all of the metal from the ships. They took arrows, crossbows, spears, shields, helmets, and even screws and nails straight out of the planks.

While this was happening, the Berserkers tried to fight back, but their weapons were stolen right out of their hands. There were some shouts and cries as well, mostly from Dagur, which was very amusing.

Once their good was done, he commanded them to fly up, away from the ships. Surprisingly, once the smoke cleared, the ships were still there, still in one piece.

Astrid was about to point this out, "Uh, Hiccup, I thought it was supposed to-"

"Wait for it," he looked down at the fleet.

Creaking could be heard from the ships and the Berserkers started screaming as they broke apart. Before long, the ships were completely gone, nothing but the wood used to construct them was left.

"We did it, Hiccup! We did it!" Fishlegs cheered.

"Yes, we did," he looked back at Helene with a smile.

She looked up at Smog with a smile of her own, "All of us."

Twirl and Smokey went up to Smog and both nudged him, they were glad he was fine. He chirped and roared happily and victoriously.

With Dagur and his Berserker fleet dealt with, the riders could focus on getting the metal back to the village. Fortunately, it seemed the adolescent Smothering Smokebreaths had taken a liking to Smog and willingly took apart their nest at his command. And he seemed to enjoy them as well, he felt a little lonely as the only one of his entire species on Berk, but not with them.

Once everyone had their metal back, there was only one other problem to be solved. They had to find a way to get the Smokebreaths back to Breakneck Bog.

Johann was unwilling to help, even though it was technically his fault for buying the scrap metal nest in the first place. An alternative would have to be sought out for this situation.

That alternative was Smog, the younger Smokebreaths followed him everywhere he went. He led them to Breakneck Bog with Hiccup and Helene following on Toothless to be sure nothing happens while en route. Twirl and Smokey went along with them, but for a completely different reason.

They made it to the island and the Smokebreaths were ecstatic to be back home, they were playing and flying all over the beach they landed on. It was a wonderful sight, and very relieving to see these dragons where they belong.

An hour or so after they arrived, Hiccup and Helene figured it was time to go. Unfortunately, it would be only them and Toothless.

She got back onto Toothless after she finished playing with Smokey in the sand and gestured for her dragons to come along, "Come on, guys. Let's go home."

Uncharacteristically, they did not move from where they stood. She wondered why this was and got down from Toothless.

"What's wrong?" she asked.

Smog looked up at her, then behind him at the young Smothering Smokebreaths, then back at her with a soft and empathic look in his eyes. Both Twirl and Smokey had similar looks on their faces as well.

She looked at the Smokebreaths and frowned, "Oh, you are home. You want to stay here, don't you?"

He squawked softly and his mate and offspring chirped in a similar manner. They sounded sad, but all three dragons knew this was the right thing to do.

"Alright," she smiled softly, "I'll respect that. If you really want to stay here with them, you can."

Twirl and Smokey got onto each of her shoulders, flanking her. They both nuzzled her on each side of her face with smiles while purring happily.

When they were done, Smog hovered before her to be eye level with her. He brought his face to hers and their foreheads touched, he purred just as they did, although his were stronger and more reassuring than theirs. They separated and his golden eyes met her blue ones for a time, before he turned away and left to be with his new flock, along with his family.

She got back onto Toothless, completely quiet with her head hung. She wasn't crying nor was she sad, no, but she was upset that she had just lost all three of her dragons, although she knew that it was for the best.

Hiccup knew not to say anything or talk to her, he could tell she didn't want to. They took to the air and flew back to Berk in silence.

Smog watched as they left, he missed them already, but he had already made up his mind. Once he could no longer see them, he turned around to his flock and family, not looking back.

Hiccup, Helene, and Toothless arrived back to Berk after leaving Breakneck Bog. They landed on the docks just as Johann was about to depart.

"Hiccup! Helene!" Astrid greeted them with a bright smile.

She then noticed that Helene's three dragons weren't there with them. Which didn't make sense to her, where were they? They would never leave her, right?

Her eyes were slightly wide as she asked, "Where are your dragons, Hele?"

"Gone," she answered in a somewhat quiet voice. "Smog decided to stay on Breakneck Bog, Twirl and Smokey stayed with him."

She embraced her, she could feel the tears threatening to rain from her eyes, "Oh, I'm so sorry."

She returned the embrace, "It was for the best. It was time to move on."

"Speaking of," her father began, "I think it's time for you to come back to me."

She pulled away from Astrid, her eyes wide, "What? Why?"

"Well, you no longer have a dragon and that was the only reason I let you stay here, it's gone and you should come back to your father," he stated, grabbing her wrist.

'No!' she thought in a panic. 'I'm going to die! Gods, help me!'

As if sensing her distress, Hiccup stepped in and stopped him, "Wait! Johann, you can't take her. She may not have a dragon, but Helene is still a Dragon Rider." He put his arm around her shoulders, as if to further establish that he stands with her.

Johann would love more than anything to just slaughter them where they stood, but not yet. Not the time or place.

He sighed and let go of her, "Very well then. Tell you what, if you can find yourself a new dragon by the time I arrive back to Berk in one month, you can stay. If not, you will come back to me."

She could have fainted if Hiccup didn't still have his arm around her. She covered her mouth with her hands, she felt tears pooling in the corners of her eyes, "Thank you!"

He embraced her and reminded her of his deal when he pulled away, "Remember, only one month."

He walked up the gangplank to his ship, pulling it up once he was on it. His ship began to float away and he set sail for another location, a location Helene would not want to know about.

Astrid looked up at the sky, it was orange, it was sunset. "It's getting late, do you want me to take you home, Hele? You've had a long day."

She nodded, "Yes, please. Thank you."

They went over to Stormfly, who bent down to make it easier for Helene, she could tell she didn't have a lot of energy left in her after she had to say goodbye to her dragons, especially Smog. They mounted her and she stood up as soon as they were on her.

"See you tomorrow, Hiccup," Astrid smiled.

He smiled back, "See you guys tomorrow."

Stormfly took them home and went to her loft once their feet touched the ground upon jumping down from her. The girls went into the house and went to their respective rooms. Astrid offered to talk to her about her dragons, but she declined, she was tired and a bit upset, she just wanted to rest.

Helene walked into her room and looked at the corner, the nest was gone, it was completely cleared, as if the nest had never been there at all. That just made her want to cry until she no longer had eyes to cry from, but she didn't shed a single tear. Instead, she sat on the foot of her bed and sighed, thinking about her time with her dragons.

Smokey, he was a surprise, unplanned most likely, but he was such a sweet and active baby dragon, he was just perfect. Twirl, she was playful but very caring, she was a good mother to Smokey, a good friend to her, and the perfect mate for Smog. Speaking of Smog, he was the best dragon and partner anyone could have asked for, he saved her countless times, he was her salvation, he would always have a special place in her heart, no, all three of them would.

She relished herself in the thoughts and memories of her faithful dragons and unconsciously spread her arms out and set her hands on her bed. That's when she felt something under her hand.

She picked up whatever it was and looked at it, it was actually not one item but two. Two metallic objects shaped in the outline of an ear with three teeth dangling from each, from longest to shortest.

Since they were in the shape of the helix of ears, she figured they must be earrings. The teeth were the exact size and shape of the teeth of her dragons.

She gasped, "They made these for me. They knew they weren't leaving Breakneck Bog and wanted something for me to remember them."

She looked for something reflective to look at herself while she tested these earrings. She found a mirror she took from her father's ship and carefully set the earrings around her ears, since that was how they seemed to be intended to be worn. To her surprise, they fit perfectly, as if her dragons were staring straight at her as they were being made.

Now, she doesn't just have something to remember them in her mind and heart, but something for all to see every time they see her. Whenever someone sees her, they also see a piece of them as well.

X-o-X*~*0*~*X-o-X

(A/N: I was wrong about what I said about chapter 13, this is the longest chapter of this story. Over 7,000 words, can you believe it! This feels like a celebration.

I know some people are probably going to be crying now that Smog is gone and so are Twirl and Smokey. Although they won't be in this story anymore, that doesn't mean they won't be mentioned or seen ever again. Oops! I think I say a little too much!

Out of respect, this is the last chapter for a couple of weeks. I want to get started on the next chapter as soon as possible, but I can't without any results from my poll, so I'll wait. Hurry up with it, guys, I don't want this story to be on chapter 16 forever, I have lots of plans for it.)